Chennai, June 28 (BPNS)
Fishermen organizations of Tamil Nadu have urged the state government to monitor the functioning of the fishermen cooperative societies. They want the fishermen cooperative societies to function in a proper and transparent manner and not to collect extra money from the fishermen under the National fishermen Savings –cum –relief schemes.
According to fishermen association, this scheme envisages each fisherman to contribute Rs 1500 while the government contributes Rs 3000 or double the amount that individual fishermen contribute.
This money is used to fund the needs of the fishermen during the ban period for fishing in the state and during monsoon time in October- November when fishing is not possible.
All Fishermen association president Nanjil Ravi Puyal while speaking to BPNS said, “The fishermen societies must collect the amount in monthly installments but however at present it is being collected in a single shot which is difficult for the fishermen.”
He said that resolutions regarding the functioning of the society have to be passed by the directors and other office bearers of the concerned societies but is not done properly.
The fishermen association leaders said that they would be directly petitioning the Chief Minister to ensure that the societies are functioning properly and in a transparent manner.
Marimuthu Nanjappan, a fisherman from Kasimedu village in Tamil Nadu while speaking to BPNS said, “ There are 18 fishing villages in Kasimedu alone and each society has 1000 members each. This means huge money is being transferred through these societies leading to political clout for the directors of these societies. However, they are not providing us proper help at the time of our need and these societies commenced operation only for helping the fishermen in distress.”
The fishermen and association leaders are pointing out that there are possibilities of misappropriation of funds as the government support coupled with the fishermen contribution leads to a huge financial base for these societies.
