Despite the budget session being curtailed to four days, there were some sparks seen flying between the coalition members with Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral making a strong statement that fish has been beyond the reach of the common man. To prove his point, Cabral disclosed that Kingfish is exported to Singapore at Rs 350 per kilo while the same fish is being sold here at Rs 450. Fisheries minister Vinoda Paliencar responded quickly that it’s the civil supplies department’s job. Does the matter end there? Are we to believe that nobody would be interested in touching the issue of fish pricing? What happens to Paliencar’s pending plans of imposing tax on fish exports? It was in December 2017 that Paliencar made this bold announcement of taxing exports. Bold, because it came against the pulls and pressures of several legislators who are actually involved in fish exports.
If Cabral thundered on the floor of the House questioning government’s Goemkarponn, it is for Paliencar to give direction. It would do a lot of good if the fisheries department and civil supplies department jointly work out a plan to make fish affordable to the common man without hitting the traditional fishermen. There are fish corporations in the pipeline and there were mobile fish vans launched. But these vans have threatened the very livelihood of traditional fishermen whose businesses were being challenged. This is why fish vans were chased away by stick-wielding local vendors in places like Ponda and Canacona, prompting them to shift elsewhere.
Government should not run parallel market systems to regulate price mechanisms. Systems like these will be counter-productive and will only sound a death knell for traditional businesses. Paliencar could land himself in deep waters if he ignores the interests of traditional fish vendors. The fisheries minister should stick to the assurance given to the people of Canacona in May last year that the government will give preference to traditional fishermen over mobile fish vans. Plan to review subsidies to fishermen sounds good. But, if subsidies are to be reviewed, those extended to exporters should be revisited on a priority basis. Government has disbursed Rs 108 crore subsidy in the last five years out of which Rs 83 crore subsidy was only for fuel like diesel, petrol and kerosene.
While there is a lot of ground to be covered, Paliencar should take pride in what he has achieved so far. Last year’s directive from the Centre issuing a ban on LED fishing and bull trawling is a big victory for him, where all his predecessors, including Avertano Furtado of the previous BJP regime, failed. However, there are some decisions that require a little more tact and sensitivity. Plans to regulate fish prices need to be discussed and debated with the stakeholders and should also include the civil supplies department and the fisheries department. Let the Goemkar be part of the process which strives for Goemkarponn.
