A small village in north Gujarat’s Sabarkhantha district is fighting against the state government’s move to award a fishing contract in a pond on the village outskirts, saying that fishing will promote non-vegetarianism in the dominantly vegetarian village. In fact, the villagers have filed a PIL in the Gujarat high court against the government issuing tenders for fishing contract citing that the ir opposition to the project has not been acknowledged. Hearing the PIL on Wednesday, Chief Justice R S Reddy permitted the government to go ahead with the tendering process while posting further hearing on September 20. The Brahmin-dominated Raygadh village with a population of 5,000 has stated in the PIL that it is opposed any fishing activity as villagers consider it an evil. “Fishing should not be permitted in the pond as there are temples around it. There is also an Agnihotri school, where rituals are performed. Fishing activity in the vicinity will adversely affect the piety of the place,” said the petition. “Fishing will also encourage youths to turn to non-vegetarian food and other vices like alcohol,” said petitioner Hiralal Joshi, former sarpanch of Raygadh. Villagers had submitted their objection to the director of fisheries when the contract was awarded. The village panchayat also proposed to pay Rs 20,000 -the contract amount -to the fisheries department to compensate for any revenue loss. The government rejected the compensation proposal and went ahead with its project. Resolute in its opposition, vil lagers passed a resolution in the gram panchayat prohibiting fishing in the pond. When the government remained undeterred and floated a tender for the fishing contract, the villagers moved HC and filed a PIL in June opposing the same through advocate D R Bhatt. “The government has failed to take into consideration objection raised by the villagers which is in violation of the policy. Since the government wants to start a project near the village, objections from local residents must be taken into consideration,” Bhatt said. During the hearing on the PIL on Wednesday, government pleader Manisha Shah opposed the PIL contending that the fishing contract is a move to generate livelihood for poor people in and around the village. “What is important is generation of livelihood and not the amount of contract,” Shah argued.