It is learnt that fishermen in the state will have to pay 30 times more to dry fish. Fishermen who, since 2015, have been paying a nominal lease amount of Rs 100 per year for using 100 sq m platform to dry fish at the government facility at the fisheries complex at Colva, will now have to pay a whopping Rs 3,000 annually as the state directorate of fisheries has reportedly enhanced the lease amount. The applicant shall also have to pay the security deposit amounting to Rs 1,000 per platform. It is pertinent to note when fish is in short supply, the common man prefers to consume dry fish. If fishermen have to pay more to dry the fish, then obviously, this extra expenditure will be passed on to the consumer. As a result of this even dry fish will be beyond the reach of the common man. It is observed that fish is dried on abandoned roads and the road shoulders in the villages. Due to this whopping cost to dry fish at the government facility, fishermen could resort to drying fish by the roadside. The state directorate of fisheries needs to have a rethink on this whopping increase in the cost of drying fish at the government facility as it affects the common man.
