Jayakumar, fishermen hail separate dept for fisheries

Justin Antony, founder president, International Fishermen Development Trust (INFIDET), told DT Next, “A separate department for fisheries at the Centre was one of the long pending demands of the fishermen and I, on behalf of fishing community, thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for the announcement.” 

One of the major announcements in the Budget is the creation of a separate department for fisheries for the benefit of 1.5 crore fishermen and to further boost inland fishing, two percentage interest subventionis given to the farmers pursuing the activities of fishing. 

The announcement had brought huge cheers among fishermen, who said that fishing sector would witness growth and their long pending demands would be met through the separate department. Justin Antony said, “A dedicated department for fisheries will solve the long pending demands of fishermen such as setting up of disaster management centres near the fishing hamlets and proper distribution of safety equipment.”

However, Justin Antony said that fishermen need a separate Ministry at the Centre, like the state, and he had been demanding the Centre for it for more than 10 years.

Similarly, Jayakumar too welcomed the announcement of setting up of separate department for fisheries. “Setting up of a separate department for fisheries was one of the long pending demands of the state government. On many occasions it was stressed by the state government and even by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, during his visit to New Delhi.”

He also said that this a golden day for Fisheries sector as some of the long pending problems faced by Tamil Nadu fishermen will be solved.