Fishing community leaders from across the State on Sunday urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to unconditionally release four fishermen from Nochikuppam who were arrested last month and have been housed in Puzhal prison.
The leaders said the men – K. Bharathi, S. Rupeshkumar, J. Kosu Mani and Ravikumar – were arrested in cases pertaining to the Marina Loop Road issue despite the government, Greater Chennai Corporation and Madras High Court sorting out the matter, and the fishermen personally meeting Mr. Stalin to thank him.
They claimed Mylapore MLA T. Velu unnecessarily interfered in the allotment of homes to fishermen of Nochikuppam. “A total of 1,188 houses had been announced in the Assembly under Rule 110 at Nochikuppam, of which 108 were to go to family affected by the tsunami. The rest were for Nochikuppam families. However, Mr. Velu wanted to distribute 324 houses to residents of Selvarajpuram and only 540 houses remained for Nochikuppam residents, who objected to the distribution of houses to persons from other villages,” they said.
They demanded that Mr. Stalin also initiate steps to remove Mr. Velu from his party post for causing trouble among the fishing community. Leaders, including Nanjil Ravi of the Anaithu Meenavargal Sangam, Indian Fishermen Association’s M.D. Dayalan, Kabaddi Maran of the Tamil Nadu Meenavar Munnetra Sangam and Mahesh Akila of the Indiya Parambariya Meenavar Sangam, addressed the media on Sunday.
They said fresh cases were being foisted on the fishermen, who were being denied bail. It was the police and officials of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board who broke locks of houses constructed for Nochikuppam fishermen and their extended families, they alleged.
