Minister for Fisheries Saji Cherian has called for Opposition support in conducting a joint protest to address the twin problems of hike in price of kerosene and cut in quota to the State that have hit fishers hard.
Responding to questions from ruling and Opposition members during the Question Hour in the Assembly on Thursday, Mr. Cherian said this was a grave problem that could not be addressed by the State government alone.
The previous Left Democratic Front government had provided a subsidy of ₹25 when the price of kerosene was ₹49 a litre. However, now its price stood at ₹134 a litre. Moreover, not even half the requirement of kerosene by the fishers was being provided. A traditional fishing boat with two 9.9-hp engines required 35 to 60 litres of kerosene a day. However, these boats got only 140 litres from Matsyafed, and 129 litres from the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation at subsidised rate every month. Only if the State got 1 lakh litres a year from the Union government under subsidy-less quota could this shortage be met to an extent.
