PANAJI
Former Indian tennis star Leander Paes committed an embarrassing ‘double fault’ on Thursday by referring to Goa as an ‘island’ twice during his first outing on the campaign trail in South Goa ahead of the 2022 state assembly polls.
Paes, who is being billed as a potential chief ministerial face for polls by the Trinamool Congress, also highlighted the trials and tribulations faced by the state’s fishing community, while also underlining the need for subsidising fishing operations as well as extensive patrolling to prevent rogue fishermen from other states from harvesting fish from the seas off Goa.
“Goa is such a beautiful big island. One of the main businesses of Goa is fishermen. The fisherfolk make up the whole island. And I feel that the issues we have in Goa are many. But the fisherfolk have major issues,” Paes said in an official video which was released by the TMC in course of his campaign in Assolna and nearby areas.
The video was later withdrawn by the party citing a technical glitch.
Paes, whose father Vece hails from Goa, was inducted into the TMC in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last month.
Paes also highlighted the ill-effects of bull trawling and illegal fishing by fisherfolk from neighbouring states, which the tennis star said, was one of the reasons why the fishing catch off Goa had depleted by as much as 85 percent over the last decade.
“Over the last 10 years, 85 percent of our fishing has been decreased. That’s a huge number in one decade,” Paes said.
The TMC also said that fishing was one of the major industries in South Goa, adding that increased subsidies could be one of the ways through which to revive the ailing industry.
“I feel that we can give subsidised rates to buy equipment, whether it’s nets, fishing equipment, boats. We could also subsidised rates to repair the equipment,” Paes said.
“So I think that there is so much work that can be done for the fisherfolk and like I mentioned patrolling of waters to make sure that our Goan boats, our Goan fisherfolk get proper fish,” he also said, calling for a “handholding” of fisherfolk in order to better their lives.
