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Taj Fisherman’s Cove: big business ousts local livelihoods
Tsunami created a natural process of eviction. But the government’s so-called rehabilitation plans aim to displace survivors even further. Thousands of fisher folk are being asked to stay away from the coastline under the guise of safety.
Native people in all tsunami-hit states are anxious that the land they lived on before the disaster might be given away to hotels, resorts or aquaculture and shrimp farms,
none of which are being asked to move to safer areas.
Tsunami-hit communities face losing coastal land through policies that favour big business over local livelihoods.
Taj Fisherman's Cove, a five star hotel, just south of Chennai is a case in point.
For the well-heeled local and foreign tourists who can easily shell out US$400 a night to enjoy the hotel’s luxury, there are apparently many things to discover.
Paradise, tranquillity, and even the mysteries of the vast ocean are available to holidaymakers and businesspeople at the Taj hotel in Kovalam village in Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu.
Also on offer are champagne brunch, lobster, crab, pasta; fresh coffee, croissants and pastries.
Beach wars
Perhaps even more mysterious than the vast ocean is why earlier this year the hotel filed a police complaint against local villagers, which resulted in women being beaten up by police with batons, most men fleeing for their lives and the random arrest of nine panchayat members in a night raid.
The source of conflict was, as it often is in tourism, land and power. After the 2004 tsunami, the beach near Fisherman’s Cove was radically transformed by the waves. Where fishing boats were once parked, overnight a steep slope had appeared making it almost impossible for fishing crews to carry their heavy boats to land.
But use of the flat beach in front of the hotel was denied.
Whose beach is it? The hotel had previously taken over nine acres of land belonging to fishing communities in return for educational and food subsidies, as well as promises of employment. These promises had been met half way by the hotel’s management.
Post-tsunami, the community felt it was not unreasonable to land their boats on the beach and wanted to renegotiate the deal,
particularly since the hotel had gone back on its promises. “They keep saying: ‘We’ll give, we’ll give’, but they don’t let our children complete their education; they just pay half the fee so kids
are forced to drop out at 8th grade,” says Sundar, the panchayat vice president.
The Taj Group – the current owners of the hotel – refused to talk with the fishing community.
“We asked them for a meeting but they kept putting us off, speaking to us outside the gate. We were totally upset,” adds Sundar.
Not only that, the hotel’s management filed wrongful charges against the fisher folk.
A fisherwoman who suffered police brutality the night police stormed their village says, “They (Taj Fisherman's Cove) are the ones who have all the money. They can buy anyone, even the police. We are poor people, so we'll get beaten.”
Time to question benefits of tourist developments
Globally, local people are being displaced and sidelined by unchecked tourist developments. Ecosystems and cultures are being destroyed, all in the name of leisure.
The spin doctors of tourism assert it provides jobs and economic benefits to local communities, but the costs of this highly extractive industry, worth an estimated $500 billion annually and set to double within ten years, are rarely mentioned.
Jaideep S S, an ActionAid activist, states that local communities are becoming aware of their customary rights and challenging exploitative policies. “Why did Taj Fisherman’s Cove apply for permission in 2005 under Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) after years of existence on the coast? It clearly shows that the beach originally belonged to local people. How can the government let the Tatas violate the CRZ by allowing its building within 100 meters of the beach?” asks Jaideep.
ActionAid is campaigning internationally for governments to protect the rights of local people from corporate negligence or abuse.
Future threat
Community leaders and NGOs are concerned that with changes in laws governing use of coastal land, tsunami survivors could face further threats to their homes and livelihoods.
“The current Coastal Regulatory Zone Act which recognises the traditional rights of fishing communities has been replaced by new ‘Coastal Zone Management’ legislation that does not,”
says Sajeev part of ActionAid’s tsunami response team.
“With no provision to protect fishing communities’ access to land and sea, the CZM will favour big business and tourism.” he adds.
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