Only tears of starvation for fishermen

Repro from New Indian Express

Only tears of starvation for fishermen
Published Date: 10/23/2008
G Saravanan
Chennai, October 22: ROCKET launches from Sriharikota may help Indians land on the moon, but for thousands of fishermen in 17 hamlets along a stretch near Tamil Nadu- Andhra Pradesh border, it means going to bed without food for several days. Today, Wednesday, October 22 is no exception when India has joined the select six nation space club with the successful launch of a rocket.

More than 25,000 fishermen living on the Palaverkadu (Pulicat lake) stretch near the border have been making the sacrifice of “forced holidays without earning” for the last four deca des whenever the ISRO launched a rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Citing security reasons, these fishermen were ordered by the local authorities not to venture into the sea surrounding the launch centre and Pulicat lake for at least 10 to 20 days at a stretch during rocket launches.

While disallowing the fishermen to catch fish during the ban period, neither the State government nor the ISRO management ever thought of giving any compensation for the loss of livelihood. The traditional fishermen, who solely depend on daily fishing for their livelihood using catamaran and small fibre boats, have been paying a heavy heavy price for living very close to the all important space centre.

“While over a billion hearts congratulate the Indian scientists for their extraordinary stride in space science on every rocket launch attempt, a few thousand hearts burn and suffer in agony,”, said K Bharathi, president of South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association.” The fishermen are also happy about our achievements, but they cannot understand how they were left in the lurch by the authorities.” he added.

The association has held an ‘attention- seeking demonstration’ on the issue at Ponneri on Wednesday and more than 500 fishermen participated in it. “We struggle hard to make both ends meet during these ban periods,” Sithan, a fisherman told Express. The association has also sent memorandum to the State Government and the ISRO.