October 8, 2018
Chennai : Fishermen of Kasimedu are fed up with the piling of garbage. They attempted to clean the Chennai Fishing Harbour but to no avail.
The fishermen are demanding that an agency should be appointed for cleaning the garbage and maintaining the hygiene of 24.28 hectare compound.
At least 9,000 boats of various sizes including 7,000 fibre boats and 1,800 mechanised boats anchor and operate out of this busy harbour that handles around 170 tonnes of fish every day.
Vinoth of the Chennai Tiruvallur Murpokku Meenavar Sangam, one of the associations that has been trying to create awareness about the dangers of plastics among fishers, said that garbage only keeps piling up since there is no regular system in place to clean the harbour. “There are no bins, very few sweepers, no trucks or tricycles to cart the garbage. At times people just set fire to the garbage to get rid of it. But now, with the rains that will not be possible,” he said.
“For a long time now, the Fisheries department has been attempting to take over the control. But it has not happened. The Greater Chennai Corporation too has refused to take up conservancy work here,” said M.D. Dayalan of the Indian Fishermen Association said that as the harbour .
Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar commented “the government has been spending funds on creating and improving facilities including wharfs for the fishermen inside the harbour. However, we don’t have control over the harbor. A proposal seeking to take it over is under the consideration of the Government of India. Once that is through, we will take action. We hold regular joint meetings with the Port Trust asking them to improve conditions,”.