Tamil Nadu - Nagercoil   

Fishermen require subsidised kerosene

Nagercoil: Kanyakumari Resources and Research Centre (KRRC) here has urged the Government to provide subsidy to kerosene for the fishermen community.

Its secretary A. Maria James said the fishermen were using fibre boats fitted with outboard engines for fishing in the sea.

After tsunami, poor fishermen were using small fibre boats fitted with outboard engines, provided by various non-governmental organisations and the Government.

The main fuel for these outboard engines was kerosene.

The cost of kerosene here was very high, ranging from Rs. 30 to Rs. 35 a litre in the open market.

This drained a considerable amount from their meagre income.

In neighbouring Kerala, the Government was supplying kerosene to fishermen at the rate of Rs. 9.40 a litre.

The Relief Commissioner of Tamil Nadu assured to issue appropriate Government order during a meeting held in September 2006 at Chennai.

Hence, it was appropriate to provide subsidy and fix the price of kerosene for fishermen at a rate compared to that of what Kerala government offered.

Besides, on many occasions fishermen from the district were reported missing, while fishing in mid-sea owing to water current, bad weather and various other reasons. Sometimes, they unknowingly crossed the international sea borders where the respective government arrested them. Rescue operations in such cases were not timely, creating a lot of problems to the kin of the fishermen.

Missing fishermen must be traced and saved by taking appropriate action quickly. The absence of which resulted in the fishermen either losing their lives or facing criminal action in other countries. There were number of such cases in the past years.

Naval and aerial search would be of great help. Search vessels must come under the control of District Collector, Mr. James said.

Sand mining was also rampant in coastal villages in the district. Sand mining units were flouting mining rules and regulations.

They extracted sand using soil excavators more than the prescribed depth. This caused environmental degradation and the reason for high prevalence of cancer cases in coastal villages due to radiation.

Now, a private firm had bought large tracts of land along the coast for mining.

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