The Hindu : Fishermen unhappy with Centre's attitude

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 09, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Fishermen unhappy with Centre's attitude

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE JULY 8 . The fishermen's leaders, who met the Union ministers in New Delhi recently, have expressed shock over the "nonchalant" attitude of the ministers towards the fisheries sector.

Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, the Secretary of the National Fishworkers' Federation (NFF), Pramod Madhwaraj, said the Union Government had revealed that the Rs. 260 crore outlay as promised by the Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, was not for 2003-04 but for the entire 10th Five-Year Plan. Mr. Madhwaraj said the Union Agriculture Minister, Rajnath Singh, conveyed this to them when the delegation of the fishermen's leaders met him on Saturday.

He said this had shocked the NFF as it had demanded Rs. 253 crore a year for subsidies for diesel and kerosene. The Union Petroleum Minister, Ram Naik, had confirmed that the sum was for the entire Plan period and not for a single year.

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, promised the delegation that justice would be done to the legitimate demands of the fishermen.

Giving details of the proposed outlay, Mr. Madhwaraj said the NFF had estimated that the fishermen needed Rs. 135 crore subsidy for diesel for a fishing season and Rs. 118 crore for kerosene for the use of country boats. According to the Union Agriculture Minister, it was Rs. 260 crore for the entire Plan period. The sum also included money for the development of fisheries sector. With this, the fishermen would get only Rs. 20 crore a year as diesel subsidy against the estimated demand of Rs. 135 crore.

Mr. Madhwaraj said the State Government paid Rs. 17 crore a year for 55,000 kilolitres of diesel. The outlay for kerosene stood at Rs. 10 crore for five years for the entire country.

Under the new exim policy, the Union Government had issued licences to 32 factory trawlers of foreign origin, which was against the assurance given to the fishermen.

He pointed out that the Murari Committee had recommended against the issuance of licences to foreign trawlers. This would increase the fish famine in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone as the factory trawlers fished in these waters even during the monsoon, not allowing the fish to breed.

He said several of the exotic foreign exchange-earning fish varieties would be lost to Indian fishermen forever.

Mr. Madhwaraj said the Union Government had reduced the budget outlay for the fisheries sector from Rs. 800 crore in 2002-03 to Rs. 750 crore in 2003-04. This had irked the fishermen.

Criticising the "anti-fishermen" attitude of the Union Government, Mr. Madhwaraj said the NFF would launch an agitation throughout the country. Before that it would observe the impact of Mr. Advani's intervention.

The delegation consisted of Mr. Madhwaraj and the senior fishermen's leader, Loknath Bolar.

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Fishermen unhappy with Centre's attitude