A public interest litigation petition has been filed in the Madras High Court, seeking a direction to the State government to identify vulnerable places that are prone to coastal erosion, and to construct shore wedge reefs, besides carrying out sand nourishment as expeditiously as possible in order to save the livelihood of fishermen.
Justices A.D. Jagadish Chandira and C. Saravanan have called for the response of the government, by June, to the PIL petition filed by Fishermen Care, an association represented by its president L.T.A. Peter Rayan (74), who retired from the post of Deputy Secretary to the government before beginning to work for the welfare of fishermen.
The petitioner’s counsel, L.P. Maurya told the court that large parts of Tamil Nadu’s coast lines were situated on the East, which has a sandy coastline and is therefore vulnerable to coastal erosion. The coastal geomorphology and related ecosystem play a large and vital role in economic development of the region, in terms of fishing and tourism.
