A large number of fisherwomen from the coastal Periyapattinam fishing village thronged the Collectorate here on Monday, alleging non-payment of relief given to them during the lean fishing period and seeking the intervention of Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao.
The women, almost all from Muslim community, said that they had been receiving the relief of ₹ 4,000 from 2011 and failed to get the relief so far for the year 2019.
Fisheries department officials who had been personally receiving petitions for the relief till last year asked them to apply online at the e-service centres this year and they could not get the relief even after applying online, they said.
Some of them were members of the Magalir Cooperative Society and engaged in fish drying and fish processing work, they said.
They were getting the relief after a team, comprising officials from the fisheries department, local village panchayat and village administrative officer had identified the beneficiaries. If there were more than one fishing member in a family, the relief was given to only one fish worker in a family, they said.
On the advice of Assistant Director of Fisheries (south), beneficiaries who had received the relief last year had applied online for the relief, which was enhanced to ₹5,000 this year but the relief was not credited into their bank accounts, they said and sought the intervention of the Collector.
Mr. Rao after hearing their grievances directed them to meet the Deputy Director of Fisheries for necessary relief.
