Thirty-five-year-old Chapala Shanthakumari, a fisherwoman from Ramayapatnam, stares at the sea with worry writ large on her face, having come to know about the State government clearing the decks for the location of a port in the sleepy village.
Unable to reconcile with the thought of displacement from the village soon or later, she says, “It will be better if the news is false.”
“We are eking out a living in a small way by selling the catch brought by our men from the sea. We will be fish out of water if we are moved out from here,” she tells The Hindu in a choked voice.
Members of the community share her concerns over displacement and resettlement as they are agitated over the port coming up in their vicinity even before addressing their problems.
“None of the us holds even a cent of land. Any amount given as compensation will be spent in no time. We will not be able to lead a dignified life thereafter,” says village sarpanch Avanigadda Krishna Rao. “The policies evolved to compensate for the project-induced displacement and resettlement are followed more in breach than in practice,” complains M. Koteswara Rao, a fisherman. To drive home his point, Mr. Koteswara Rao refers to the alleged removal of the fishermen, who had been initially employed at a private port in the neighbouring SRSP Nellore district but thrown out of their jobs by the port management under one pretext or the other later.
“Fishermen who had resided there could not organise themselves to assert their rights,” he said.
Do-or-die struggle
“There is an urgent need to bring together fishermen living in the coastal region, from Tada to Itchapuram, to thwart their eviction in the name of development, which does not mean anything to us,” the fishermen of the village say, gearing up for a do-or-die struggle for a fair deal. “The district may witness rapid port-led development. But we may be left out of the development process,” they fear.
“None of the officials has visited us so far. The government should first take us into confidence, and come out with an attractive resettlement package before laying the foundation stone for the project,” says Chapala Ramanaiah while pressing for gainful employment to both literates and illiterates.
Recalling the way the fishermen had been forcibly evicted to pave the way for setting up of the Gangavaram port, the fishermen want the government to promote a fishing harbour for their benefit and address all their concerns relating to resettlement first before proceeding ahead with the sea port project.