Ongole : Fishers protest auction of fishing rights

Ongole : The members of the Prakasam district Fishermen Cooperative Organisations Joint Forum and the Fishermen Joint Action Committee Andhra Pradesh organised a protest at the district Collectorate on Monday and demanded that the government immediately withdraw the GOMS 217, released to auction the fishing rights at the water tanks and reservoirs.

Fishermen JAC president R Krishna, Fishermen Welfare Society president T Ravi, vice-president K Tirupati Rao said that the State government has decided to auction the public resources like water tanks and reservoirs of an area more than 100 hectares, in online mode and issued GOMS 217 in this regard.

They alleged that the government is trying to make a profit to the middlemen, brokers and its party leaders by calling for the online auction. As of now, they said that the fishermen cooperative societies are taking the tanks and reservoirs on lease by paying the fixed amount to the fisheries department to release fish seeds and catch them after they grow up.

They said that the income earned on the sale of the fish is being shared equally among the fishermen in the society.

The fishermen leaders explained that with the online auction of these ponds, tanks and reservoirs, the traditional fishermen families who are dependent on the local tanks will be forced out by the auction holders coming from other places, and they lose their livelihood.

They opined that the government is going to damage the lives of the fishermen, in the name to provide entrepreneurship opportunities to the unemployed and improve livelihood to the public.

They alleged that the government has decided to implement the online auction for 27 ponds and tanks in the Nellore district as a pilot project, and demanded it drop the idea permanently by cancelling the GOMS 217.