Despite curbs, crowd swells at Kasimedu fishing harbour

Despite curbs, crowd swells at Kasimedu fishing harbour

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  26.07.2020

Kasimedu fishing harbour witnessed a huge crowd on Saturday, a day before the total lockdown, despite several restrictions being put in place.

Officials said only wholesale vendors and small-time traders were allowed and that the crowd was better managed on Saturday than on previous days. “We had installed barricades on the wharf at equidistant intervals and megaphone-wielding police personnel were regulating the crowd. Only in the last hour, more people were allowed due to the total lockdown on Sunday,” said an official.

Last Tuesday, fisheries minister D Jayakumar announced that sale of fish in Kasimedu fishing harbour will be restricted to five hours — from 3am to 8am. The area is off limits for general public and is meant only for vendors. Sources said sale began ahead of schedule, around 1am on Saturday, to facilitate more sales.

“We have been consistently organizing meetings with the fishermen committee representatives to ensure that all vendors wear masks at all times and also that physical distancing is maintained. A token system is in place to allow entry into the market area and the market management committee is also at work already,” said a corporation official.

Authorities said Saturdays will see large crowds at the market since it is shut on Sundays. But, officials said they expect the crowd will be streamlined even better in the coming days.

According to the new rules introduced at Kasimedu, the number of boats allowed to go fishing on a given day too is restricted to 70 and the catch from only about 50 boats are allowed for sale. The remaining catch has to be sold the next day. Small- and medium-level fish vendors are allowed in four groups of 150 each and only after one group finishes purchase, the next is allowed, said officials.

Apart from this, fishermen who use mechanised boat are not allowed to sell their catch in the area earmarked for country boats.

DISTANCING GOES FOR A TOSS: The authorities said they had regulated the crowds, but this photograph says it all

But, authorities said crowd was better controlled on Saturday than on previous days