Shops, home-made food makers out of business

PULICAT: Fishermen in Pulicat said that their livelihood has been hit due to the boat ride ban imposed after the December 25 tragedy that killed 22 persons.“Even before the Fisheries Department sent a letter to all the village heads to ban boat rides, the heads themselves announced the ban on the same day of the accident and said that if the ban was violated, a fisherman had to pay a fine of `20,000. We began boat rides only because we could not get enough income from fishing. Now, even that is gone,” said Desappan, a fisherman.The fishermen claimed that they had been victimised as the boatman, who took the family for a trip on the fateful day, was not even 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 without drowning. But the man who caused the accident had no experience in boat rides and he had taken out his wife’s employer’s family. And we are paying the price having lost our livelihood,” said another fisherman Ramu.The fishermen claimed they earned around Rs. 300 to Rs. 500 on a boat ride during the weekends and on festival days. “There are two entry points for tourists and a trip near to the estuary could take one-and-a-half hours. We take tourists on a ‘point’ basis and we end up taking only one trip till the tourists leave. Some satisfied tourists will even give us Rs. 1,000 but that is very rare. But apart from paying for the boat rent, diesel and the food we serve the tourists, we get only Rs. 300 to Rs. 500,” said Suman.It is not just the fishermen, who have lost their business. The local residents involved in cooking home-made food based on orders from the 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 a physically challenged shopkeeper Ruban.