Social activist Medha Patkar on Tuesday reiterated her strong opposition to the Tamil Nadu government's proposal for building a new secretariat complex along Chennai's world famous Marina beach, by displacing fishermen colonies.
Addressing residents of the Nochikuppam fishermen's colony off the Marina beach, she said the displacement of fishermen from their natural habitat would violate their rights and deny them the only source of living that they had known for generations.
She described the proposal as inhuman and threatened a nationwide agitation to highlight the problems of the fishermen.
Medha Patkar also made a pointed reference to the Marina beautification project, to be undertaken with the Malaysian government's assistance on another section of the beach.
"This too involves the displacement of several fishermen and their families. The government cannot deny people their only source of livelihood just to put up five-star hotels and shopping complexes," she said.
Local fishermen said they would go to any extent to protect their interests and threatened direct action if the government failed to take note of their pleas.
They pointed out their children had been forced to return to the seas after they failed to secure employment despite undergoing formal education.
"We really have nowhere to go but to the sea to earn a living," a woman said.