Fishermen societies in troubled waters

Fishermen societies in troubled waters
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Highlights

State government’s interest in developing the fishing industry uncovered disputes after the membership drive for new societies was declared. With more than 3,900 fishermen cooperative societies, Telangana has more number of societies than West Bengal was vying to control each water body in their reach.According to official sources, the Fisheries Department which should have been focusing on develo

Disputes among fisheries societies acting as a back-pedaller in the government’s plan to develop the industry

Hyderabad: State government’s interest in developing the fishing industry uncovered disputes after the membership drive for new societies was declared. With more than 3,900 fishermen cooperative societies, Telangana has more number of societies than West Bengal was vying to control each water body in their reach.According to official sources, the Fisheries Department which should have been focusing on development of the industry is now more engrossed in resolving the disputes.

Highlights:

  • Fisheries Department which should be focused on development is now more engrossed in resolving the disputes
  • Local issues are brought to the headquarter by society members from remote villages across Telangana

Members of the societies continuously knock on the doors of higher officials to resolve their disputes over sharing power in societies. Local issues are brought to headquarter by society members from remote villages across Telangana. “Sometimes from each society about 20 members come to the office and bring along the recommendations of the local public representatives. This has created a situation of politics over controlling lakes in each village,” said an official.

A State like West Bengal which has the highest production of fish and seafood, the societies are divided based on jurisdiction, while for Telangana there is a society for each water lake. Even when compared to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana has more fishermen societies with minimum requirement of 12 members. With the State government showing keen interest in developing fishing industry, more societies are likely to come after the elections are held in June. “For the department resolving the disputes has become a biggest constraint,” adds the official.

Even as officials were tackling the issue, the disputes have reached its zenith and landed in High Court. The State government has issued a Government Order reducing the per person area of the Lake from 1 hectare (2.5 acre) to 1 acre for ‘canal fed’, while for ‘rain fed’ the area has been reduced to 2 acre per person from 2.5 acre. A lake of 12 acres (canal fed) can be registered as a society now.

It may be mentioned here that the Cabinet Sub-Committee meeting on Tuesday, which was attended by T Harish Rao, Eatela Rajender, Tummala Nageswara Rao, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Talasani Srinivas Yadav and G Jagadish Reddy, saw the representatives of societies led by Gangaputra demanding that the government scrap the GO while the Mudiraj community representatives demanded that the GO should be continued.

By Md Nizamuddin

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