PANAJI
Two weeks into the resumption of fishing activities and business is struggling to pick up at the Mandovi jetty amid an acute shortage of workforce.
Director of Mandovi Fishermen Association Menino Alphonso said there has been only 5 per cent of business following the resumption of fishing activity.
“Of the 60 big purse seine boats, only one is operational at present. The crew hail from other states and have not arrived as yet. Their absence has severely hit our fishing business,” said Alphonso.
“We hope to achieve 100 per cent activity by the month end, when the workforce returns from their home states.”
He informed that arrangements are being made to bring their workers from other states.
“We have to get our workers from their villages by arranging special buses as they are afraid to come to Goa by trains due to Covid formalities. We will arrange the buses after August 15 and it will take around 10-15 days for workers to reach Goa,” he said.
He informed that workers employed on fishing boats are mainly from Jharkhand, Odisha, Chattisgarh and Karnataka.
Alphonso said there around 5,000 workers employed on around 120 boats which operate from the Mandovi Jetty.
“Only 1,000 workers of them have arrived in the State,” he said.
Alphonso also said the fishing business has been severely affected by the hike in diesel rates.
“Diesel is almost Rs 94 per litre and we cannot afford to risk sending our boats in the sea with fuel worth almost Rs 1 lakh in these difficult weather conditions.”
