Voted for BJP as govt did not fulfil our demands: Fishing community

Kendrapada: A large number of marine fishermen of Odisha have voted against the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the just-concluded assembly and Lok Sabha polls as the state govt did not initiate any steps to mitigate their plight by fulfilling their demands.“We have been demanding subsidized diesel used in the mechanised fishing boats as the rising cost of the fuel (Rs 97 per litre) has added to our woes. We are already coping with with numerous hardships and obstacles, unpredictable weather conditions being one of them. Many fishermen cannot afford to go out to sea anymore because of high fuel prices, while fish prices remain the same,” said Srikant Parida, president of Odisha Marine Fish Producers Associatio. He added, “Most fishing boats work collectively in groups of five to seven, with a common practice being going out to sea together but for only one fishing boat to return to shore with the haul, so as to save fuel. Most of the fishermen are now finding it difficult to cover expenses and invariably are in debt. The diesel price increase has put the state’s fishing industry into a major crisis.” “As the fuel price has been escalating, the logistics service fees like ice, equipment, fishing tools have also been increasing. As a result, fishermen have to pay a lot more for every fishing voyage,” added Parida. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat govts provide subsidies to the fishermen on diesel. “We had urged the previous govt many times to provide us diesel subsidies. But since the govt did not pay any heed to our demands, many fishermen and their families voted against BJD in the polls,” Parida said. The fishery department registered 1,714 mechanised boats, 10,359 motorised boats and 3,868 non-motorised boats in the state. “We had sought for the inclusion of fishermen families in the public distribution system and other social security schemes six months back at a meeting in Bhubaneswar. But the govt turned a deaf ear to our demands for which we cast our votes against BJD to teach the party a lesson,” added Behera.

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