Loop Road fishermen to hold black flag protest on Sunday

Fishermen of villages from Nochikuppam to Srinivasapuram will stage a black flag agitation on Sunday, expressing their strong opposition to the proposed Secretariat at Foreshore Estate.

The fishermen have asked all the villages to hold peaceful protests, demanding that the State government return the lands belonging to Mullikuppam and Mullimanagar to the villages and earmark them for future expansion of their villages.

Demand for new houses

They also demand the construction of houses for fishermen living along the Marina Loop Road, as most of their houses were built 40 to 50 years ago.

The fishermen have submitted their demands to the Chief Minister’s Special Cell.

“We hope the government will take a positive decision on the issue. Since we are the stakeholders who matter the most, we request the government to appoint someone to listen to our grievances before taking such a major decision. We are holding protests only because nobody has discussed the issue with us,” said fishermen leaders G.R. Vijayan and K. Bharathi.

Fishermen of villages such as Nochikuppam, Bhavanikuppam, Domingkuppam, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Mullikuppam/Srinivasapuram, Mullimanagar, Nambikai Nagar, Selvarajpuram and Irudayapuram have planned to hold a series of protests to attract the attention of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay.