Police today arrested 50 agitators including the local MLA Mr. Venkataramaiah and MLC Suryanarayana Raju and several fishermen when they had protested against opinion-gathering by the Pollution Control Board as part of the expansion plans of the second phase of the Gangavaram Port in Visakhapatnam district.

 

The protestors are objecting to the expansion plans of the port saying that the port management has not kept its earlier promise of providing employment to the local fishermen who lost their livelihood after the construction of the port.

 

They are also of the opinion that the expansion plans will result in a heavy pollution around the villages as more shipments of coal and other dusty materials would be handled for export and import operations.

 

The fishermen lamented that not even a single person was provided with employment even after four years of acquisition of their lands for construction of the port.

 

The port management has been planning to acquire another 1000 acres of land of the fishermen villages for the expansion project.