Cracking the whip on a 15-month long case involving collision of two ships off the Ennore coast in Chennai during January last year, the High Court of Madras has directed the Govt. of Tamil Nadu to compensate the affected fishermen adequately within four weeks from the date of verdict (yesterday).

PW Maple, which took off from Ennore’s Kamarajar Port, and MD Don Kancheepuram, which was entering the Port, collided with each other at 03:45 a.m. in the wee-hours of 28th January off the Chennai coast. Crude oil in containers in Kancheepuram ship leaked and spilled on the sea surface, thus making fishermen struggle for catching fish and earning their livelihood as the environment got severely obstructed.

The oil spill continued to haunt the fishermen for many weeks before it subsided.  Most of the fishermen couldn’t go for fishing as what they could was only dead fish in view of the oil which got mixed in the sea-water. Selvaraj of Fiserhmen’s Association had earlier moved the High Court demanding compensation to the fishermen from the Govt. for losing their livelihood rights for no fault of theirs.

Delivering a verdict in the case yesterday, the High Court of Madras directed the AIADMK Govt. in the State to provide adequate monetary compensation to affected fishermen within four weeks’ time.