Fishermen plan protest against new Secretariat on Sept 29

Fishermen from Ennore to Kovalam have planned to stage an agitation on September 29 against the proposal to construct the Secretariat at Foreshore Estate in Chennai. The protest will be held at Foreshore Estate with community leaders from the other districts too likely to join. Fishing leader K. Bharathi said the protest had been announced because there was no move by the government to drop the proposal. “We had hoped that once the Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay returned from his trip to London, he would take a call. Since our people have voted for him, we hoped he would reciprocate that love for us. But nothing happened,” he alleged. V.R. Vijayan, a leader of fishermen, said that no meeting was held with the stakeholders before the decision was taken. “The local MLA, who is a Minister, has not come and met us or even sent feelers. All other political parties, including the DMK, have been speaking on our behalf,” he
added.
Residents in the area pointed out that there were 14 schools in the surrounding area, and they had enough trouble with traffic during school pick-up and drop-off times. A major portion of the lands identified by the government belongs to Srinivasapuram, one of the fishing hamlets.