Southern States
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Karnataka
State fishermen draw Centre's attention to their demands
By M.Raghuram
MANGALORE, DEC. 16. For the first time in 10 years, the fishermen from Udupi, Uttara Kannada, and Dakshina Kannada districts have succeeded in drawing Centre's attention to their long-standing demands.
The National convention of Fishermen Forum (NFF) held at Arjampalli in Orissa raised the demands of the State fishermen for redressal at the national level.
Leaders of fishermen, who returned from the convention on Sunday, were jubilant about the prospects of their grievances being heard by the Union Minister for Petroleum, Mr. Ram Naik. Mr. Naik has convened a meeting of the leaders of the National Fishermen's Forum (NFF) in Delhi on Tuesday.
Mr. Pramod Madhwaraj, who led the State fishermen's contingent at the convention, told The Hindu that the meeting with the Union minister, if it took place, would be the first in recent years to focus on fishermen's fuel problems, mainly the subsidised diesel for the fishing vessels and the Kerosene quota for the countrycraft fishermen.
The convention took cognizance of a host of other problems, including the menace of foreign fishing trawlers, hurdles faced in the construction of houses and fish drying yard in the areas coming under CRZ notification, implementation of Mandal and Murari Commission recommendations, inclusion of inland fisherfolk in Savings Relief Scheme of the Government and shelving of work on the Rs. 4,000-crore private commercial port at Tadadi in Uttara Kannada District because of which 30,000 fishermen would be pushed into penury.
Mr. Madhwaraj said the NFF had declared its support to the demands of the State fishermen. The convention was disturbed at the Centre's cancellation of the diesel subsidy this year which would push up the cost of fishing expedition by Rs. 2.64 per litre of diesel the fishing vessels used.
The convention, which was held under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Thomas Kocherry of NFF, resolved to organise local, regional, and national level agitations to press the governments at the Centre and the State to accede to the demands of the fishermen.
Mr. Vasudeva Boloor, General Secretary of the Coastal Karnataka Fishermen Action Committee, said all fishermen in the country faced similar problems.
But the fishermen in maritime States were facing the problem of fish famine as the Government allowed polluting industries in the coastal areas to discharge effluents into the sea.
Mr. Boloor said the leadership for fishermen's movement, which till now was seen emerging in isolated pockets, was now poised to take a national dimension with the support for a concerted fishermen's efforts to find viable solutions to their problems.
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