Fishworkers stage dharna
Traditional fishworkers in Kollam, under the banner of the Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation, staged a dharna in front of the Matsyafed office at Shakthikulangara here on Tuesday morning to press for their demands pertaining to the kerosene issue.
© C Suresh Kumar
Traditional fishworkers in Kollam, under the banner of the Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation, staged a dharna in front of the Matsyafed office at Shakthikulangara here on Tuesday morning to press for their demands pertaining to the kerosene issue.
They wanted the Civil Supplies Corporation authorities to release their kerosene permits which were suspended last month.
Inaugurating the dharna, secretary of the National Fishworkers' Forum T. Peter said that keeping the permits suspended had led to a fuel crisis in the traditional fishing sector.
He alleged that the permits had been suspended on flimsy grounds.
Yet the Central and State were not taking any step to solve the issue.
He said the permit verification process by the Corporation authorities was conducted in a haphazard manner.
It was this situation which had created the crisis. Moreover, the Corporation authorities were averse to the idea of entrusting the Matsyafed with the task of allocating kerosene to the fishermen based on the permits.
He called for immediate revocation of the suspended permits.
Moreover, along with the revocation, the kerosene allocation for the month of September too should be released to permit holders, he said.
The dharna was led by federation State president P.P. John. District president S. Francis, secretary A.R. Andrews, and treasurer M. Ambrose addressed the demonstrators.
