A sea of fishers at adalat

Minister for Fisheries J. Mercykutty Amma listening to the petitioners at the Matsya Adalat organised by the Fisheries Department in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

For hours on Tuesday, the Tagore Theatre in the city resembled an open court with hundreds of fisher women milling around and jostling each other to be heard by authorities led by Fisheries Minister J. Mercykutty Amma.

Their grievances ranged from the need for change in their status in ration cards from Above the Poverty Line (APL) to Below the Poverty Line (BPL), which has now become priority and non-priority categories in under the Food Security Act (FSA), waiver of loans, and provision of liveable shelters. Giving many of them a patient hearing was Ms. Mercykutty Amma and several top officials of her department.

“Every rainy season, our houses are flooded and we have to live in schools. Though the government gives few thousand rupees for the maintenance of the houses, it is becoming increasingly inconvenient for us to always live under the peril of an impending hazard,” said Mary Varghese, from Vettukad coastal hamlet, who reached the Matsya Adalat hours before it began.

Said the Minister, while inaugurating the adalat: “People living in the coastal areas have many woes that call for urgent attention. Our effort is to find solutions for the common problems faced by the fishers. Primary among the issues brought before the adalat was change in ration card status, shortage of kerosene, and waiver of loans. We are coordinating with the Civil Supplies Department to find solutions for these problems and waive loans on a case-by-case basis.”

On the complaints relating to the rehabilitation of families whose land had been acquired for the Vizhinjam project, the Minister said the government was planning to shift the powers relating to rehabilitation to the District Collector.

1,500 petitions

Around 1,500 petitions received from the fishers were considered by the adalat where compensation totalling ₹ 4 crore was sanctioned. Applications for waiver of loans taken before 2008 were referred to the panel on debt waiver.

Orders were issued for waiver of loans totalling ₹ 7.14 lakh.

As many as 1,349 persons will be given ₹ 2.69 crore under the interest-free loan scheme of Matsyafed and another 771 persons ₹ 1.20 crore loan under the micro-finance scheme on the concluding day of the fish festival here on Wednesday.