‘Fishermen taken into confidence for auction’

The reported auctioning of 125 mechanised boats, mendacity in Sri Lanka, was deliberate solely after taking the fishermen involved into confidence, mentioned officers of the Fisheries Department and a senior consultant of the fishermen group.

Fishermen’s associations too had requested the State authorities to rearrange for the auctioning of the boats, mentioned D. Jayakumar, Fisheries Minister, in an announcement.

A crew of 4 officers and 10 representatives from the group had visited Sri Lanka throughout October 10-16, 2018 to establish how lots of the launched boats could possibly be introduced again to Tamil Nadu. After deliberations amongst officers and the representatives, it was determined that 36 boats can be taken dwelling, whereas the remaining could possibly be auctioned in Sri Lanka. Consequently, the boats have been introduced again to Tamil Nadu throughout January 16-February 6, 2019, a senior official within the Department mentioned. The State authorities, in keeping with the Minister, spent ₹47.95 lakh for bringing again the boats.

In May this yr, a crew was supposed to go to Sri Lanka to carry again 10 extra boats, however the pandemic disturbed the plan. As the boats recognized for auctioning are properties of Indian nationals, proceeds from the public sale shall be handed over to the Indian High Commission in order that the quantity can finally be handed on to the homeowners of the boats, the official defined. Mr. Jayakumar mentioned the State authorities requested the External Affairs Ministry to ship the cash to it for facilitating their distribution to the boat homeowners.

P. Jesu Raja, president of the Ramanathapuram district chapter of the All-Mechanised Boats-Fishermen Association, mentioned he was one amongst those that went to Sri Lanka, and it was agreed that the unsalvageable boats could possibly be auctioned within the neighbouring nation itself.

As the worth of every boat is within the ₹15 lakh-₹30 lakh vary, the homeowners or the fishermen stand to lose closely, if the anticipated income by the public sale is “just ₹3 lakh-₹4 lakh” a ship. This is why the Central and State governments ought to present compensation to the fishermen, along with the quantity collected by the public sale, Mr. Raja mentioned.