PULICAT: For fishermen living in 24 villages in and around Pazhaverkadu, New Year began on a sordid note as Pulicat Lake wore a deserted look following a ban on boat rides.Exactly a week ago, 22 persons, including 20 members from a single family who went on a fun ride in a boat to celebrate Christmas, drowned near the mouth of the estuary. As a result of this, the ban was imposed.The picturesque lake that would usually be flooded with tourists on weekends and festival holidays barely had a handful of visitors from neighbouring towns. Fishermen sat idle in their anchored boats as they could not take visitors on trips around the lake. Hundreds of fishermen, who depended primarily on tourist boat rides for a living, now face an uncertain future.The 600-odd fishermen from 24 villages under four panchayats – Kottaikuppam, Pazhaverkadu, Light House and Thangal Perumbalam – who depended only on boat rides for their livelihood, hoped that the government would step in with a solution to their problem.“Even before the Fisheries Department sent a letter to all village heads to ban boat rides, the heads themselves announced the ban on the day of the accident. They also announced a fine of `20,000 for those who violated the ban. We take tourists on boat rides only because we could not earn enough from fishing. Now, even that is gone,” said Desappan, a fisherman. The fishermen claim that they are being victimised as the boatman who took the family on a trip on the fateful day, was not a fisherman and had no experience in boat rides. “Only a fisherman knows about the lake and the sea. Even if a tourist falls into the lake, we have the expertise to save him. Also, we take the tourists only through shallow waters where they can get down and walk. Now, we are being made to pay the price, having lost our livelihood,” said Ramu, another fisherman.The fishermen claimed they earned around `300 to `500 per boat ride during the weekends and on festival days. It is not just the fishermen, who have lost their business, many local residents who make home-cooked meals based on orders from tourists and the hundreds of eateries and petty shops near the lake have also suffered. “I have this Aavin shop for the past seven years and this is the first time I am sitting idle like this on a weekend,” said Ruban, a physically challenged shopkeeper.With hope that they would get back their business by Pongal holidays, fishermen want the State government to intervene and give them permission to restart boat rides. “During the week after the accident, I got phone calls from at least seven regular customers asking me about the rides. We hope the government will give us licences so we could buy new boats for the rides and save our livelihood,” said R Kumar, a fisherman.
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