PUDUKOTTAI: Fishermen of Arasanagaripattinam near Manamelkudi, about 70 km from here, have urged the district administration to initiate action against encroachments in coastal villages to facilitate fishing activities.
Arasanagaripattinam Fishermen Cooperative Society president A. Shahul Hameed said that a section of fishermen had encroached a vast area on the shore at several places in and around Arasanagaripattinam by setting up thorny fences.
Adding to the woes of the fishermen returning with the catch was the absence of street-lights in these areas. “Nets which got tangled in fences were damaged,” he said, urging the district administration to immediately intervene in the matter.
Additonal assistance sought
He also pleaded for distribution of additional tsunami assistance to all fishermen. Although 3,130 fishermen had got the first phase of the assistance, the additional assistances of a bi-cycle, first-aid kit and a lantern had been distributed only to 693 fishermen, he said.
A Fisheries Department official said that the first phase of assistance was given to fishermen whose boats and nets were destroyed by the tsunami.
The additional assistances had been sanctioned only to those whose boats had been damaged.
Not eligible
Those who lost their nets were not eligible for the second phase of assistance, he added.
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