AP Matsyakarullu Matsyakarmika Sangham on Wednesday staged a protest against levying of GST on dry fish and asked the government to withdraw it immediately.
Sangham general secretary K. Chandrasekharam said the introduction of GST on dry fish had led to increase in its price hitting common man.
He said fisher workers who go on mechanised boats return with catch. While all valuable fish would be preserved in the ice boxes and handed over to the boat owners, the remaining small fish would be taken by the workers. They dry them on the boats during their return journey.
The workers after reaching the jetty sell the dry fish to vendors. As businessmen stopped buying dry fish from fisherwomen, several families were in distress he said and asked the Centre to exempt them from GST.
He also asked local MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, who hails from fishing community, to intervene and bring the issue to the notice of the authorities concerned.
