http://www.thehindu.com/2010/06/09/stories/2010060952290400.htm
________________________________ CRZ rules: fish workers plan stir Special Correspondent ________________________________ ‘Fish workers will be displaced for projects' Concern over Kerala Inland Fishery Bill too ________________________________ Thiruvananthapuram: Fish workers across the State are planning to join a nation-wide agitation against the draft notification on the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) issued by the Union government. At a press conference here on Tuesday, State president of the Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation T. Peter said the notification did not address the livelihood concerns of fisher folk. They feared that fish workers and their families would be displaced in large numbers from the coastal areas to clear the way for tourism and industrial projects. “The move to permit mining and dredging in the coastal waters will affect fishing activities. Bringing 12 nautical miles of the sea within the purview of the CRZ will also affect the coastal population,” they said. “We will join fish workers from other coastal States who are already on the warpath,” they said. The federation is equally apprehensive about the Kerala Inland Fishery Bill, now under the consideration of the Subject Committee of the Kerala Assembly. The federation urged the government to revise the Bill. It demanded that fishing rights in water bodies owned by local self-government institutions and various agencies, departments and authorities be vested with fish workers. The aim of the federation is to bring all fish workers listed in the welfare fund in the below poverty line (BPL) list. About 60 per cent of fish workers are now in the above poverty line (APL) list, making them ineligible for welfare and relief schemes announced by the Central and State governments. It will take out a vehicle campaign from Fort Kochi in Ernakulam on Thursday. The rally will cover inland fishing areas in Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kollam before concluding at Vizhinjam here on June 14. Fish workers will stage a sit-in before the Secretariat on June 15 and 16 and take out a march to the Kollam Collectorate on June 18. © Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
