A senior Congress MP on Sunday defied the Centre’s directive of 61-day uniform fishing ban by venturing into deep-sea fishing on a motorised boat along with his party colleagues and traditional fishermen.
Justifying his action of using a motorised boat to go beyond 12 nautical miles from the Azheekkal harbour in Kayamkulam in the district to catch fish, former Union Minister and Alappuzha MP K.C. Venugopal said, “It is not humanly possible for someone to go beyond 12 nautical miles on a non-motorised boat and catch fish in troubled season.”
Talking to PTI over phone from the sea, Mr. Venugopal flayed the Centre’s order on June 3 exempting non-motorised fishing boats from the uniform fishing ban imposed in the exclusive economic zone.
“I am challenging the government to take action against me for violating the order. How can a traditional non-motorised boat go beyond 12 nautical miles, catch fish, and return safely, particularly during monsoon? The poor fishermen are not yoga experts to perform wonders like Narendra Modi,” the Congress MP said.
Motorised boat
Mr. Venugopal said 30 traditional fishermen led by him and Kerala Pradesh Matsya Thozhilali Congress leader T.N. Prathapan, Congress MLA, went up to 14 nautical miles from Azheekkal on a motorised boat for fishing operations.
“The Narendra Modi government is insensitive towards fishermen community. The government is trying to take away the rights of seas from this poor section of our society. The government is doing so to help their corporate friends who are keen on exploiting all our natural resources, including the seas,” Mr. Venugopal said.
He said that he would raise the issue of fishermen in Parliament.
He lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying, “Modi believes only in monologue and not in dialogue” and he should “try to understand the problems of marginalised sections of society like the fishermen community in the country“.
“We will continue our agitation... we will violate the Centre’s insensitive order,” Mr. Prathapan said.
— PTI
