The Hindu : Karnataka News : Rescind order on tanks, Govt. urged

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 05, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Rescind order on tanks, Govt. urged

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, NOV. 4. Organisations of inland fishermen have urged the State Government to withdraw an order on bringing small tanks under the purview of gram panchayats.

The previous Government issued the order in February to bring small tanks of less than 40 hectares under the administration of gram panchayats.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Anjubabu, president, Karnataka State Inland Fishermen Cooperative Associations' Federation, said inland fishermen had suffered following the leasing of tanks to the highest bidders by the gram panchayats. They had leased many tanks to private persons who were not fishermen, he said.

Fish catch

There were over 19,000 small tanks and 6,000 big tanks in the State.

The production of inland fish had declined from 1.2 lakh tonnes in 2000 to 77,000 tonnes in 2003 on account of three consecutive droughts. Over two lakh families were dependent on inland fisheries for their livelihood, he said.

A majority of the gram panchayats had no technical manpower to supply fingerlings to fishermen. The interference of the panchayats would hinder the growth of fisheries. The Government should also increase the lease period of tanks from three years to seven years for fishermen, he said.

Houses

P.V. Lokesh, general secretary of the federation, demanded sanction of more number of houses to inland fishermen, waiver of interest on loans and construction of hostels to enable children of fishermen to pursue studies.

`Vidhana Soudha chalo'

To draw the attention of the Government, the inland fishermen decided to agitate in all district headquarters and submit memoranda to the respective deputy commissioners soon.

They had also planned a `Vidhana Soudha chalo' in December in support of their demands, Mr. Anjubabu and Mr. Lokesh said.

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