Fishermen's issues will be resolved soon: Minister Appalaraju
Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Seediri Appalaraju speaking at the meeting in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday
Visakhapatnam : Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Seediri Appalaraju said the issues related to fishermen would be discussed with the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and resolved at the earliest. Speaking at a high level committee meeting held on Wednesday to resolve the problems of the fishing harbor and fishermen, the minister directed the authorities concerned to provide drinking water facilities in the vicinity of the fishing harbor.
Authorities were ordered to set up CCTV cameras from Jetty 1 to 11 to maintain harmony, identify newcomers and conduct police patrols to prevent any untoward incident at the harbour.
Further, the minister enquired about the proposals to modernise the harbour and District Collector A Mallikarjuna briefed the minister. Similarly, Seediri Appalaraju instructed officials to fill the vacant posts of Sagara Mitra immediately.
Fisheries officials were directed to take steps to record the arrival details of fishing boats round the clock along with filing of the details of fishermen venturing into the sea.
Appalaraju instructed the Joint Director of Fisheries to hand over the identity cards to the fishermen within 10 days. Visakhapatnam Port Authority officials were asked to allocate space to carry out repair works of the boats.
Newly built fish markets will be made available soon, he added. The minister said the fishing community could start fishing from Wednesday midnight. District Collector A Mallikarjuna authorities were directed to remove garbage from the fishing harbour at frequent intervals.
During the meeting, fishermen's associations and boat owners' associations were asked to discuss and go hunting so that boats do not capsize in prohibited areas.
Joint Collector KS Vishwanathan, police officials, AP State Fishermen's Welfare Development Corporation Chairman Kola Guruvulu, Fisheries Department Joint Director Lakshmana Rao, Fisheries District Officer Govinda Rao, Port Trust officials and various fisheries associations were present.