Kerala - Kollam   

Fishermen’s debt: panel to hold sitting

KOLLAM: A sitting of the Select Committee on the Kerala Fishermen Debt Relief Commission Bill 2007 will be held at 3 p.m. on October 31 at the Rotary Community Hall at Alapad. Ministers K.P. Rajendran, S. Sarma and N.K. Premachandran and 15 MLAs will attend the sitting.

The meeting is for holding discussions and inviting suggestions on the provisions of the Bill. Those invited for the meeting include fishermen, representatives of fishermen’s organisations, local self government institutions, banks including cooperative banks, fishermen cooperatives including the Matsyafed, NGOs, religious leaders and officers concerned from Kollam district.

A questionnaire on the draft Bill to be filled and submitted at the meeting has been distributed to the persons concerned. The Bill is proposed to be enacted for the purpose of providing urgent relief to the fishermen who are in distress due to indebtedness. The Commission will recommend relief measures to such fishermen and for solving their problems through conciliation, negotiation and adjudication.

The draft Bill notes that many fishermen are trapped in debt after taking loans to purchase fishing equipment. They are unable to pay back the loans for years due fall in harvest on account of natural calamites, loss of equipment and climatic changes.

The Bill aims at one-time settlement of loans and even writing off principal amount if necessary. The Commission will be vested with judicial character and elaborate powers.

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