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Showing posts from November, 2008

New lease of life for 6 TN fishermen

Repro from New Indian Express Published Date: 10/29/2008. G Saravanan Chennai, October 28: THOUGH Chennaiites and others elsewhere in Tamil Nadu celebrated Deepavali with customary pomp and fanfare on Monday, the families of six Kasimedu fishermen, who have returned from Colombo after spending six restless weeks, observed the festival of lights only on Tuesday. The fishermen, Vinod (25), Gopal (50), Desingh (49), Pon Boss (60), Kumar (30) and Arumugam (28), had ventured into the sea from Kasimedu Fishing Harbour on a mechanised boat owned by Balu on September 18. They were scheduled to return after three days. But things had gone awry on the third day as their boat developed technical snag and started drifting in mid-sea. Panicstricken boat owner and the family members of the fishermen had lodged a complaint with the Kasimedu police and remained in prayer. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan fishermen rescued the missing Indian fishermen from their boat after 17 restless days on October 6 and landed...

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 ...