Representatives of voluntary organisations and environmentalists under the aegis of Alliance for Good Governance (AGG) staged a demonstration in front of the Head Post Office on Thursday evening to protest against the alleged intimidation of an activist.
Raising slogans against Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy and Minister for Port M. Kandasamy, the protesters said the ministers were diverting the issue and creating a rift between the fisherfolk and the activists, leading to the alleged death threat to AGG activist C.H. Balamohan by a group of miscreants if he failed to withdraw the case filed in the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Mr. Balamohan has filed a police complaint.
The AGG activist had filed a petition in the NGT seeking directions to the Puducherry government to ensure that 3 lakh cubic metres of sand had to be dredged from harbour mouth and deposited nearly 4 km away. “Instead of dredging 3 lakh cubic metres of sand at the harbour mouth, only 1 lakh cubic metres of sand has been dredged and the rest 2 lakh was dredged outside the harbour. The petition was filed in the interest of the fishermen and people. Now, it is turned against us. False statements are made to create conflict between the fishermen and AGG in order to hide their negligence and incompetence,” said Probir Banerjee of AGG.