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The proposed development of a port in Gangavaram, Andhra Pradesh once again sparks off violence as the interests of local people and industry collide. A common thread running through all such incidents is the delay in resolving disputes, underscoring the need for a uniform rehabilitation and compensation package
Two people were killed and 60 people, including 24 police personnel, were injured in the fishing hamlet of Gangavaram, 45 km from Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh in violent protests by fisherfolk against the building of a private port. For over a year, the local fishing community as well as villagers have been opposing the development of the private port by a Dubai-based multinational, as, they say, it has affected fishing prospects in the region.
The state government has repeatedly turned down requests from the affected locals for higher compensation amounts and better rehabilitation. Things finally came to a head on March 27, when 500 police and local officials swooped down on the village before dawn with bulldozers to evict families, flatten the land and take over the designated harbour to build the port. "They barged into the houses of fishermen and beat up women and children mercilessly," says J V Satyanarayana Murthy, CPI district secretary. "The police entered our houses and dragged us by the hair and abused us," says Erraballi Ammoramma, a villager.
The police posted heavy forces at and around Gangavaram after restricting entry into the village and clamping prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Amid high drama, district CPI (M) secretary Narsinga Rao and several members of the Gangavaram Port Matsyakarula Aikya Vedika (GPMAV), who have been on a relay hunger strike for the past one-and-a-half months, were arrested.
When the police appealed to fishermen gathered near the port site, in response to a call for an indefinite protest, not to stall construction activity further the fishermen allegedly pelted them with stones and attacked them with sticks. Failing to bring the situation under control, despite a lathi-charge, the police fired teargas shells and four rounds into the air.
Nookaraju a 37-year-old fisherman died when a teargas shell lobbed by the police hit him in the face. Karri Nookalamma, a 27-year-old woman who had delivered a baby less than a week earlier was critically injured and later succumbed to her injuries in hospital.
The injured -- 18 villagers, including two children, and 23 policemen, including armed reserve assistant commissioner of police M S S Papa Rao and two inspectors, were treated at the King George Hospital, Vishakhapatnam, according to police sources. The condition of several of the injured is reportedly critical.
"The situation is tense but under control," said Vishakhapatnam's police commissioner V S K Kaumudi. Describing the incident as unfortunate, the police official blamed the fishermen for taking the law into their own hands by attacking the police.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has announced a magisterial inquiry into the deaths and Rs 3 lakh as compensation to the families of those killed.
Earlier, on March 25, a group of fishermen assaulted sub-inspector B Surya Rao and special grade deputy collector Mohan Reddy when the police tried to move their boats and nets by force to Yarada village.
For over 15 months, local fisherfolk and villagers in Gangavaram and three neighbouring villages have been on the warpath against the development of a proposed 40-jetty port in Gangavaram by a Dubai-based consortium promoted by software professional D V S Raju who is the local partner.
One of the partners of the consortium is Dubai Ports International, part of a group that was forced to abandon a project in the United States following concerns that the deal posed a threat to American national security. Dubai Ports World backed out of managing six ports in the US after a revolt within President George W Bush's party, though he had approved the deal as part of a drive to deflect accusations within West Asia of American xenophobia and anti-Islamism.
Families from two other fishing villages that fall within the Gangavaram port area have shifted after receiving government compensation. But the dispute in the other two villages could not be resolved.
For over six months, around 3,600 fishing families in Dibbapalem and Gangavaram have been staging a relay hunger strike and protests against the port development project, on the grounds that they would lose their means of livelihood if the port plan went ahead.
The protesters are demanding a permanent alternative source of livelihood and compensation. The government had offered each family, spread over six villages, between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 and the cost of shifting their boats. But the villagers have been demanding twice that amount. They also want the construction of a greenfield jetty at Nalamaramapatalu as part of the relief and rehabilitation package since, they say, fishing is not viable at Yarada, the alternative location offered to them by the government.
When contacted, a spokesman for the Andhra consortium said it was the duty of the government to pay compensation. The official explanation is that the election code of conduct is in force in the area for next month's by-elections to the Vishakhapatnam Assembly, and so the relief package could not be revised now.
Source: The Telegraph, March 28, 2006
The Hindu, March 28, 2006
Deccan Herald, March 28, 2006
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