Recognise fishermen as SC/STs: Pawan

Hyderabad: Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan on Monday demanded that fishermen should be recognised as scheduled castes or scheduled tribes. Interacting with several fishermen here, the actor turned politician said fishermen were leading a miserable life and that they needed hand-holding by the government immediately.

He said fishermen had fallen victims to pollution of the sea coast and that unless the government does not rescue them, their lives would become even more pathetic. He said Rs 380 crore allocated for the welfare of the fishermen by the government should reach the genuine beneficiaries and advised the State to fulfil its commitments made in the manifesto.