Around 10 fishermen from Arukattuthurai fishing hamlet in Nagapattinam district staged a protest by climbing on a wind direction tower demanding the state government to provide compensation for their fishing boats which were damaged during recent Cyclone Gaja. Fishermen from Arukattuthurai fishing hamlet had been undertaking fishing activities with the help of 300 fibre and 65 motor boats. However, they lost all the boats when Cyclone Gaja struck. The cyclone had severely damaged almost all the boats, fishermen claimed. They had been appealing to the district administration to compensate their loss by allotting required funds to all fishermen who lost their livelihood. Despite repeated representations, neither the state government nor the district administration has taken any initiative, they charged. Frustrated by the inactiveness of the officials in providing compensation, a group of fishermen resorted to staging a protest atop the tower. According to police, fishermen Rajendran, Kandasami, Sabari Mainthan, Natarajan, Raman, Maran, Suresh, Gopalswami, Mathiazhagan and Raghupathi climbed the tower fixed by the fisheries department to know wind direction and raised slogans pressing their demands. On information, Vedaranyam police inspector Murugavel arrived at the spot along with his team. Personnel from fire and rescue services department also came to the spot and held talks with the protesters promising to take their demands to the officials.