5,000 were working as labourers for companies that exported sand’. Around 400 fishermen, including 75 women, from the coastal hamlets of the district submitted a petition to District Revenue Officer P. Uma Maheshwari at the weekly grievance day meeting on Monday, urging the State government to allow sand mining “which is the livelihood of hundreds of fishermen families.” The petitioners from Kooduthaazhai, Kottappanai, Uvari, Kooththenkuzhi, Idinthakarai and Perumanal said the permission accorded by the Union government to huge fishing trawlers for deep sea fishing had adversely affected the fishermen. Those who migrated to Kerala in search of jobs in the fishing industry had also returned home on seeing the prospects bleak there, they said. Around 5,000 unemployed fishermen were working as labourers for the Indian Rare Earths Limited and other companies that exported sand. Since sand mining and exporting units had stopped operations abruptly, their livelihood had been greatly affected. “Mining of sand did not cause any problem to any hamlet and did not pose threat to fishing as it is done only after obtaining all mandatory permissions. A majority of the fishermen and other communities are in support of sand mining operations, and only a few are opposing it for personal gains. Hence, the Chief Minister should allow the sand mining units to resume their operations,” they said.