The city’s fishermen have threatened to stop supplies to Mumbai at the end of the week if the recent increase in diesel rates is not rolled back. A delegation of Kolis met Union agriculture minister SharadPawar and petroleum minister VeerappaMoily in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, urging him to revoke the hike amounting to Rs 11.62 per litre.
On December 31, oil marketing companies had raised diesel prices by 50 paise to Rs 53.69 per litre for motorists. But fishermen, who constitute bulk or commercial consumers, are now having to pay Rs 11.62 extra per litre. For them, the rate has risen from Rs 43 to Rs 54.62 per litre.
“At Wednesday’s meeting, Pawar urged Moily to address the concerns of Kolis as well as lakhs of fishermen across nine coastal states. A decision is expected at Thursday’s cabinet meeting,” said Damodar Tandel, president, Akhil Maharashtra Machhimar Kriti Samiti. “Most fishing activity along the coast of Maharashtra has come to a standstill since January 18. Barely 10-20% of boats are out at sea and these too will return to anchor by the weekend. There will be no fish in the market afterwards unless a rollback is announced.”
Nandu Bhave, who heads a fishermen’s union in Versova, also reported that the community had struck work since the fuel hike. Gaothans of Worli and Uttan echo a similar scenario. Reportedly, Sassoon Dock is only receiving 10-20 tonnes of fish each day as against a mean arrival of 200 tonnes.
Moreshwar Patil, secretary, Maharashtra Machhimar Kruti Samiti, said, “Moily cited the ‘losses’ faced by oil companies as a reason for raising fuel prices. But we are overburdened as well. Our fishing spaces are continuously shrinking owing to mushrooming oil rigs mid-sea. We are barred from fishing within a 2-km radius of these rigs.
“If farmers can receive agricultural subsidy for being food growers to the nation, we deserve similar benefits. After all, the sea is our farmland and fish is our produce. How can we be treated as commercial consumers, in the category of cargo companies?”
Tandel said the fishing community of Maharashtra generates a revenue of Rs 2,000 crore per annum. “There are 23,000 boats of which 11,000 are mechanised and 12,000 non-mechanised. One lakh people are directly engaged in this trade while eight lakh people are dependent upon it,” he said.
He rued the fact that the purse seine nets being used by trawlers had already depleted the catch by 50% in recent months. “There is no income in fishing anymore,” he added.
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