Hyderabad: The BRS government had not done anything for the fisherfolk but was trying to divert their attention by organising 'Oorura Cheruvula Panduga' (celebrating water bodies) on June 8, said Mettu Sai Kumar, chairman of the fishermen Congress. "The 29 lakh fisherfolk families are being considered a vote bank,” he said.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Sai Kumar alleged that the government had brought in the free fish seed programme to benefit the ‘Andhra contractor lobby’, in the place of a scheme under which every fisherman society was given Rs 22,000 to purchase fish seed.
The contractors were providing low quality fish seed; 60 per cent of the seed was dying, leading to loss of income for the fisherfolk, Sai Kumar alleged.
Contracts for supply of fish seed are given to the same person, with only the name of the company changing, the Congress leader claimed. He alleged that Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy had recently sent back fish seed supplied in his constituency owing to quality concerns.
Calling on fisherfolk to boycott the June 8 celebrations, Sai Kumar said, "The government is not encouraging women. There are only 48 women societies though women play a key role in the traditional vocation, as opposed to 5,913 societies for fishermen.”
He said minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav had claimed that the government had increased the budget for the fishing sector from Rs 500 crore to RS 5,000 crore, it had not benefited the fisherfolk. Officials who were behaving like BRS cadre had got commissions, he alleged.
