Kerala: Fisherfolk Stage Huge Protest With Boats, Nets To Urge Quick Action Against Coastal Erosion

Fisherfolk in hundreds took out a huge protest rally in Thiruvananthapuram, the Kerala capital, on August 10 and even laid siege to the Secretariat with fishing nets and boats, claiming that the state government had been neglecting their demands.

Led by a group of nuns and priests under the Latin Archdiocese, numerous fishing community members, including women, arrived from numerous coastal hamlets in Kerala and decided to block the busy city roads while raising slogans against the authorities for hours.

Fisherfolk Call For Help

The local police tried to contain the protesters from marching ahead, which led to tense moments, reported News18.

Furthermore, the fishermen staged protests in numerous places when the motor vehicle department personnel attempted to stop them from bringing big boats tied atop vehicles.

Coastal Erosion!

A woman protester stated they have been facing huge coastal erosion for many years, but the Left government has taken no steps to seek any permanent solution for the problems. Approximately 500 houses had been decimated in numerous coastal hamlets, and the authorities should take urgent measures to rehabilitate all the people who lost their homes, they demanded.

Furthermore, the agitators also claimed that the unscientific building of groynes, the artificial sea walls known as "pulimutt' in local parlance, as part of the forthcoming Vizhinjam port was one of the causes of the drastically increasing coastal erosion in the district and also urged the authorities to intervene into the problem at the earliest.

As per reports, one of the priests at the protest stated that the authorities were just making promises and doing nothing to resolve the problem of the fishermen's community "..that attitude is really regrettable. The entire coast is destroyed. The Shangumugham beach and Kovalam tourism resort are facing severe sea erosion threats. Over 50,000 fishermen are facing job loss," he stated.

The fishermen's community and the Church are equally concerned regarding the problem; the priest stated while adding that it was only a token strike and the agitation would intensify further if the state government did not address the demands of the fishermen at the earliest.

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