Mangalore, April 14: The meeting between the Mangalore Traditional Country Boat Fishermen's Association and the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) authorities in connection with laying of pipeline to release effluents in Mukka beach, went in vain as both the parties disagreed with each other's demand.
The meeting was convened by the district administration and was chaired by Deputy Commissioner Dr N S Channappa Gowda at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Mangalore. Despite two round of meetings held on Saturday, both the parties failed to come to any consensus.
Fishermen and Mr. Palemar maintained that the discharge of effluents from companies such as Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd., BASF, and MCF had polluted the waters and this had resulted in reduction in fish catch near the coast. The fishermen said their catches had dwindled to such an extent that they could not even earn Rs. 100 a day whereas workers could earn Rs. 300. The companies, it may be noted, have maintained that their discharges had been in accordance with the standards specified.
The fishermen, led by Mangalore Traditional Country Boat Fishermen's Association President Vasudeva B K, demanded Rs. 12 crore as compensation or funding for purchase of 60 mechanised boats so that the fishermen could take up deep sea fishing instead of near-coast fishing.
Following the second round of meeting where three representatives from both the parties attended, Mr Vasudeva said that as MSEZ did not agree to meet their demands, the fishermen have decided to stage protest against the laying of pipelines.
“The MSEZ offered to pay Rs 15 lakh to the Assocoiation for its development, which we denied and replied them that if they give us the amount we would return it to them as donation and ask them to vacate Mangalore,” he said.
Earlier in the first round of meeting, the fishermen aired their grievances and urged the district administration to give them the status of mechanised fishermen. They asked the district administration and MSEZ to pool money and provide the traditional fishermen with the modern mechanised boats.
“There are 1,700 traditional fishermen in Mangalore. With the pipelines already laid by the MRPL and BASF in Chitrapura area the number of fish catching has gone down drastically. If the MSEZ too starts lying pipeline then it would affect the livelihood of the fishermen.
For the survival of the fishermen, either the MSEZ should stop laying pipelines or the traditional fishermen should be given the status of mechanised fishermen and the MSEZ should fund few crores to the fishermen to buy mechanised boats to venture into deep sea fishing,” he demanded.
Disagreeing to their demand, MSEZ Managing Director Rajeev Bhanga said that MSEZ can help them to certain extent under corporate social responsibility, but the fishermen can not expect them to accomplish greater demands.
Deputy Commissioner Channappa Gowda informed that he had already discussed the issue with the government and the banks. The government would form a committee to study the condition of the traditional fishermen. The mechanised boats would be provided to the fishermen on priority basis and banks would help the fishermen to buy the boats.
“The government has made it clear that a bulk amount of Rs 40 crore would not be given as demanded by the Association, rather subsidies will be provided on timely basis to the fishermen in the next few years.”
The Association members also raised the issue of environment pollution caused due to the affluents flown to the sea, to which the MSEZ authorities said that they have received clearance from the Ministry of Environment and the Central and the State Pollution Control Boards.
In the meantime, the MSEZ has decided to carry on the work of laying pipeline with the police protection.
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