They come from Salem to Ramnad for grama sabha meet

Adopt single resolution to free village from ‘shrimp farms’

RAMANATHAPURAM

Having migrated to Salem and other places more than 10 years ago after waging a vain battle against ‘shrimp farm lobby’, about 200 people of Koraikoottam village panchayat in Thirupullani block in the district returned to their village on Friday to take part in the grama sabha meeting and adopt a resolution to free the panchayat from the ‘destructive shrimp farms’.

On being told that the government would act seriously on resolutions adopted at grama sabha meetings, organised on the Republic Day, about 200 people, including 50-odd women, travelled all the way from Salem by engaging buses to attend the meeting here.

When Vasudevan, Deputy Block Development Officer, who chaired the meeting, began to take up issues, the villagers prevailed on him to adopt just one resolution – to free the village panchayat from the menace of shrimp farms. The shrimp farms not only crushed their livelihood and polluted the groundwater but also forced them to migrate to other places, they said.

After migrating to Salem and nearby areas, the villagers eked out a living by selling groceries, fruits and other items in push carts. “We want to return to our village to resume a dignified life and the district administration should help us,” they said.

S. Mohamed Sikkandar, who had mobilised the migrated people by creating a WhatsApp group called ‘Korai Vivadha Medai’, said if the government failed to come to their rescue within a fortnight, they would go to the Collectorate complex in Ramanathapuram and ‘settle’ there with their families.

People of Koraikoottam were leading a happy life in a clean environment, cultivating paddy and pulses, and fishing till the shrimp farms were established about 15 years ago, Mr. Sikkandar said.

He said the village panchayat had more than 100 acres of marsh land with lush green mangroves, according to forest department, but nearly 75% of the land had now been encroached upon by the shrimp farms, he said.

The panchayat once had sweet groundwater but now the water had become saline. Presently about 500 people were living in the panchayat and the government should intervene before they too start migrating to other places, he said.