Nirupama Viswanathan By Express News Service CHENNAI: Fish vendors on the Marina Loop Road, yet again, find themselves at the centre of a storm, caught between the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Madras High Court. The HC has suggested that, as part of Marina beach beautification efforts, the fish vendors of Pattinapakkam be shifted from the sides of the Loop Road. The Loop Road was proposed in 2014 but work was stalled by cases before the National Green Tribunal. Construction finally began in 2016 and was completed in 2017. Fish vendors, however, point out that they have been selling fish there for decades. They say the GCC has failed to represent to the court that, as per the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act of 2014, the vendors have the right to remain in the spot. There are around 200 street vendors along the Loop Road. The court, however, just days ago told the GCC to use force if required to evict the fish vendors if they refused to shift to a proposed fish market. According to the Street Vendors Act, natural markets where street vendors have conducted business for over 50 years should be declared as heritage markets, and street vendors in such markets should not be relocated. “Fishermen here have registered themselves in fisheries co-operative societies as early as in 1945. That is how we have been here for so long,” said K Bharathi, president of South Indian Fishermen Association. However, he said, they had no other records to prove to the court they are native to the land from where they now face the threat of eviction. “The Fisheries department has evidence to show that we have lived and done business here for several decades. So, we had requested them to implead themselves in the case but we have received no response from them,” he said. The 11 fishing hamlets near Loop Road -- Mattankuppam, Ayodhyakuppam, Nadukuppam, Nochikuppam, Nochi Nagar, Dooming Kuppam, Selvarajapuram, Bhavanikuppam, Nambikai nagar, Mullaimanagar and Srinivasapuram -- house over 50,000 fisherfolk. “They wanted to lay the Loop Road, we let them. We will not be a hindrance to any project that includes us and allows us to grow and benefit. We do not have pattas or anything to show that this is our land, which is why we cannot argue in court, but the State Government can,” said Nirmala, a vendor on the road. She said a vendor on the Loop Road usually makes Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 a day ­­­­­­— an income she is afraid of losing. When contacted, a senior official of the fisheries department said they had already handed over documents in their possession — of how many people live and do business in the area and the nature of their business -- to the GCC. “Our role is limited in the sense that we can help in the rehabilitation of the fishermen. We have no role in evicting them. In this case, to implead ourselves is difficult,” the official said. While this move to relocate the vendors is primarily to improve tourism, the Act says that for any area to be declared a no-vending zone, overcrowding should not be a basis. It also states that sanitary concerns should not be the basis for declaring any area as a no-vending zone unless such concerns can be solely attributed to street vendors. Such concerns cannot be resolved through appropriate civic action by the local authority, the Act says. When contacted, a senior corporation official said the GCC was ready to construct a full-fledged market inside the Nochikuppam tenements, but the fishermen were ‘not cooperative’. “We are going to engage in a series of dialogues with them,” the official said. Indeed, the prospect of such a market has not been able to entice the fishing community here but only because the vendors have noticed that the local body does not always keep its word. The right to be here Vendors say the GCC has failed to represent to the court that, as per the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act of 2014, the vendors have the right to remain in the spot. There are around 200 street vendors along Loop Road.

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