TSR Fishermen Welfare Forum launched

plea to Include fishermen in ST listA Visakhapatnam: T S R Fishermen Welfare Forum was launched at a meeting held at Kapuluppada village on the Bhimili-Vizag beach road on Saturday in the presence of Union Minister of State for Agriculture Tariq Anwar, AICC Secretary K B Krishna Murty, Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, MLC and AICC Secretary P Sudhakar Reddy, Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivas and local MLAs.

Speaking at the meeting, most of the fishermen leaders including P C Appa Rao and Pulusu Janardhana Rao, appealed to the Union Minister and the AICC Secretary to use their good offices to include fishermen in the ST category which was pending for 30 years. They said that there was no separate department for the development of fishermen in the Central government and was now being monitored under the Ministry of Agriculture which resulted in the diversion of funds meant for the welfare of fishermen. They also appealed to enhance the exgratia to be paid in case of deaths during venture. Union Minister of state for Agriculture, Tariq Anwar while praising Dr T S R, said that he was closely associated with him for over three decades and congratulated him for taking initiatives for the welfare of downtrodden. He hoped that the TSR Fishermen Welfare Forum would go a long way in addressing the issues and to benefit the fishermen. He said though the AP is producing 18 per cent of fishing products in the country, many problems were yet to be addressed. Stating that Dr T S R has appraised him all the problems of fisherfolk which include increase in the ex-gratia amount from the present Rs one lakh to Rs five lakh and to provide diesel subsidy to those boats that were registered after 2002 also. He assured that he would look into the issues sympathetically. The AICC Secretary K B Krishna Murty said that the fishermen community was included in the ST list in Assam and Karnataka States and it is a genuine demand. 'Have confidence in UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Youth leader Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh so that all of your problems could be addressed', he said. Dr T S R said with the spiritual capacity given by the God, he was doing all this work and his life was dedicated to the welfare of poorer sections. The newly launched Forum would redress the issues of any nature, he added. Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, AICC Secretary P Sudhakar Reddy, Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivas, MLAs Avanthi Srinivasa Rao, Dr Malla Vijay Prasad and Chintalapudi Venkatramaiah were among those who spoke on the occasion.