Kakinada: Demand to pay compensation to fishers

Kakinada: Kakinada MP Vanga Geetha, MLAs Dwarampudi Chandrasekhara Reddy and Kurasala Kannababu asked district collector Dr Kritika Shukla to take action on the issue of providing compensation to the fishermen who are losing their jobs due to the activities of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for oil deposits in the KG basin.

They said that they have brought this issue to the attention of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. They said that the Chief Minister responded positively to this.

MP, MLAs, and fishermen representatives discussed the issue with Collector Kritika Shukla and SP Satishkumar on Tuesday and submitted petitions.

They demanded the authorities to take steps to ensure that ONGC pays compensation to the fishermen. MP and MLAs said that due to the drilling works proposed by ONGC based on their seismic survey in the sea from March 1, fishermen who live by fishing have lost their jobs.

They said that they had stopped the seismic survey in the background of the sentiments and difficulties of the fishermen. They said that the work will not be allowed until the ONGC gets a clarification on the compensation.

Collector Kritika Shukla she will discuss the issue with ONGC officials.