Gangavaram fishermen's wait for jetty continues

One of the problem areas in taking up new port construction – or expanding the capacity of the existing ones – is the future of the fisherfolk in the neighbourhood and the impact on their livelihood.

Rehabilitation, therefore, assumes the utmost importance and, if the fishermen are marginalised in the process of development, there is likely to be unrest.

Gangavaram port has been facing the problem from the beginning.

Two fishing villages – Gangavaram and Dibbapalem – were affected by the construction of the port, the first being the bigger village. A rehabilitation package was prepared at the time of the construction of the port, after much struggle and strife.

The package consisted of three main components: payment of subsistence allowance to the families of the affected fishermen for a fixed period, provision of jobs in the port to the affected fishermen from the villages and construction of a fishing jetty at a suitable site.

Jobs

According to the Gangavaram port authorities, “All efforts have been made to provide employment to the people affected by the port construction. We have recruited 508 persons as against promised jobs for 600. The port has not been able to provide the jobs as per its commitment due to the court cases. The cases have been filed by some fishermen as the village people had problems with the allocation of beneficiaries. The port is committed towards solving the employment problem and will ensure all jobs are provided, as soon as the matter is settled in the court.”

The port authorities assert that, “All the persons employed are getting minimum wages and the GPL has always ensured that their well-being is taken care of. The Gangavaram Port has increased the wages for the employees as per the Labour Commission and directives under Shops & Establishments Act.” The contention of the port authorities is, however, rejected by the representatives of fishermen, local politicians and the activists. They allege that court cases are being used as a ruse to deny fishermen their jobs.

They want the authorities to fill up the remaining 90-odd vacancies as soon as possible, more so as the port is adding five more berths to the original five.

Fishing jetty

The fishing jetty has proved to be the most intractable issue from the beginning.

Originally, the fishermen wanted the jetty constructed at Nallamaramma Patalu. But their demand was rejected and an alternative site – Yarada – was chosen.

From then on, according to the port authorities, “On the advice of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Gangavaram Port began the development of a fish landing centre at Yarada beach. The GPL has already constructed the lagoon for safe landing of catamarans.

“The State Government also has laid roads up to the fish landing centre at Yarada. Thereafter, based on the additional demands of the fishermen, work was taken up to construct groins so as to provide better tranquility and avoid siltation. However, this work was stopped due to the objection raised by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust.”

Since then, there has been no progress on this issue. The district administration has not been able to identify an alternative site so far for the fishing jetty.

The associations of fishermen, the activists and the local political leaders demand that the expansion of Gangavaram port – addition of five more berths in addition to the existing five – should be taken up only after the construction of the jetty.

COMMENT NOW