CHENNAI: Soolerikattukuppam, a village consisting of about 250 fishing families, pays a heavy price to quench the thirst of Chennai metropolis. The village that falls under the Nemmeli Panchayat in Kancheepuram district is being rapidly gobbled away by the sea allegedly due to a mega desalination plant that is springing up in its neighbourhood. Irked by the loss of their village to the sea, the villagers went on a hunger strike on Thursday appealing to the government to relocate them before their livelihood is lost. Later in the day, district authorities of Kancheepuram, including the sub-collector and representatives of fisheries department, met the protestors and assured that they would look into the matter following which the strike ended.“Our village is rapidly going under the sea ever since the works on the desalination plant began,” says K R Sekar, a fisherman of Soolerikattukuppam. “The company has laid pipes and constructed facilities for kilometers into the sea. This has caused severe erosion of the coast on our side of the village. Our community hall, fishing net weaving centre, ice plant and a road that connects the local cemetery are all destroyed by the sea. Now we have to cross two other villages to reach the cemetery, which is not welcomed by the locals of those villages,” he says. “We are scared to sleep in our houses as we do not know when they might crash due to the fury of the sea,” says M Raghavi, an Class 8 student from the village who sat for the protest. “When the construction of the desalination plant began, the then district collector assured us that we would be rehabilitated if there are any problems,” says Nemmeli Panchayat President K M Sampath.
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