Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy government in AP is taking all kinds of steps to attract the multinational companies, is providing all facilities to them at the cost of the people. To serve the imperialist companies the state Government has selected certain cities and their surrounding areas as Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Vizag City is one such City. In the name of road widenings and SEZs, the state government is throwing the poor people to the outskirts of cities. The attempts of evicting the fishing community from Gangavaram is one of such cruel attempts. In the name of extending Vizag Port, State Govt. tried to throw out the Gangavaram people from that village by force. The entire fishing community rejected the govt’s attempts to evict them.

The police resorted to brutal lathicharge, mercilessly beat the fishermen and women after entering into their thatched huts. The police chased the half naked fisherfolks like animals and resorted to brutal lathicharges and firings. In this firing number of fishermen were wounded and one person died on the spot. In support of the police firings, the govt. gave wrong and false reports regarding the resistance of the fishing community. Not condemning the firing on poor fishermen, Congress leaders brought the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to show their best services to the multinational companies. Even the CPI and CPM did not pay serious attention to the problems of the Gangavaram fishermen and women. A fact finding team consisting of CPI (ML) leaders and leaders of mass organisations like AIKMS, IFTU, POW and led by Com. Tanya visited the Gangavaram village on 29-3-06 and enquired about the happenings in that village. This team visited houses of wounded and killed and expressed their full support to the just struggle.

Dharnas in support of Gangavaram Fishermen

A dharna was held at Sakhinetipallli in East Godavari District condemning the lathi charge and firings at fishermen in Gangavaram village of Visakha district. CPI(ML)-ND and AIKMS held a big demonstration before the Collectorate at Kakinada on March 29 demanding to stop the privatization of Gangavaram Port. AIKMS held a dharna in Bapatla (Guntur) a sea-coast town, in which a large number of fishermen and women participated.