Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Fish workers for agitation

Thiruvananthapuram: Fish workers owing allegiance to the Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation (KSMTF) staged a dharna in front of the Secretariat on Monday urging the government to write off their loans, ban monsoon trawling on the basis of the Supreme Court verdict and exert pressure on the Centre to scrap the move to replace the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms with a Coastal Zone Management (CZM) policy.

Inaugurating the dharna, federation president T. Peter called for steps to ensure the safety of fishermen at sea during the monsoon season. He stressed the need to step up patrolling by the Coast Guard and marine enforcement, provide fishworkers with lifejackets and supply one wireless set for each fishing vessel.

The federation also demanded measures to check the outbreak of epidemics in the coastal areas during the monsoon. It urged the Health Department to ensure that primary health centres in the coastal areas were operational round-the- clock.

Addressing the dharna, Mr. Peter said the executive committee meeting of the National Fishworkers Forum scheduled to be held at Kolkata on June 20 and 21 would finalise a nation-wide agitation to press the demands.

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