Pending diesel subsidy to be released soon: Nadagouda

Mangaluru: The pending diesel subsidy amount for the fishing boats would be released within a week, said Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Venkata Rao Nadagouda, listening to the woes of fishermen during his visit to the fisheries port on Tuesday, July 17^th.

Mr. Nadagouda assured that he would discuss the issue with the senior officials in Bengaluru and all measures would be taken to release the amount. The state government is committed to completing the work on Phase 3 of the fisheries port in Mangaluru and additional grant was required to complete the work. Thought the state government had already released its share for the work, the union government is yet release its share, he explained.

Urging the minister to solve the problems faced by the fishermen community, the Karnataka Purse-Seine Meenugarara Sangha and Mangalore Trawl Boat Meenugarara Sangha submitted a memorandum to Mr. Nadagouda. He was urged to recruit more staff for the Fisheries Department and also complete the third phase of the extension work at the fisheries port in Mangaluru. He was requested to provide funds immediately, since there was a shortage of grants in the port for maintenance works.

Loan waiver facility should be provided to fishermen who have availed loans from fisheries cooperative society. The pending amount of compensation, to be provided to fisherwomen for the last two years, should be released at the earliest and also subsidies should be provided to repay the loans availed by them, were the demands put forth by the BJP district fisheries cooperative societies with the minister through their memorandum.

The other demands of the fishermen community included earmarking of government lands for the Matsyashraya scheme, subsidy for the housing scheme should be increased to Rs. 5 lakh, Zero interest loans should be provided up to Rs 10 lakh, through Fisheries Marketing Federation and subsidy of Rs 25,000 should be provided to traditional fishermen to purchase nets, nylon ropes and other equipment.

The memorandum also mentioned that the compensation of Rs 10 lakh should be given to the families of fishermen in case of death of a fisherman and Rs 5 lakh for suffering disabilities in a mishap while fishing. Protective walls should be built at estuaries in Bengre, Kulai and Sasihitlu-Hejamady, creation of a fisheries cooperative hall in the district, distribution of Distress Alert Transmitter to the fishermen, shifting of Coastal Regulator Zone (CRZ) authority to the district and installation of mobile stalls for street fish vendors.