Team Herald
PANJIM: All Goa Fishermen Forum (AGFF) has demanded that the Fisheries portfolio be allotted to a person who possesses knowledge of fishing activities.
The Association, which represents a large section of the fishing community of the State, also demanded that the Fisheries portfolio be kept with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar instead of Vinod Palyekar.
Speaking to the media, AGFF said that the Fisheries Minister is being misguided by individuals with vested interests. The forum alleges that the minister has never taken stakeholders into confidence.
They said that imposing taxes on fish exported from the State is in the interest of a few individuals and not in the interest of Goan fishermen. Objecting to the move to impose tax or fees, AGFF said, “The idea on imposing tax is to benefit a non-Goan fishing mafia. Fisheries Minister is actually telling us don’t make profit by selling your fish for a better deal outside Goa but sell it to the mafia and his agents in Goa for half the price and get cheated.”
They have demanded that the Margao wholesale SGPDA fish market be handed over to the Fisheries Department to break the fish trader, middlemen and politician nexus.
, which is the cause for artificially hiking fish rates for Goan consumers.
AGFF demanded that VAT reimbursement, and other incentives given to fishermen, be restored to levels given by the government in 2002-03.
“All other coastal states offer VAT reimbursement to full consumption of fuel to promote fish catch in their States, fish being a rich source of protein for their local population”, members said.
AGFF also demanded that no new rules and regulations be proposed without taking into confidence fishermen engaged in different forms of fishing.
