KARACHI, July 13: Recent administrative changes in the representative body of fishermen has sparked a new controversy.
The high-ups of the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS), an NGO which is controlled and managed by the elected representatives of fishermen and the officials of Sindh government, restructured the administrative setup of the Society, last week.
A number of the top officials of the FCS, including manager administration, audit and markete, were removed and replaced by contractual employees, despite a ban on such appointments.
Though an official of the FCS termed these changes a routine matter, but it caused resentment among the senior employees of the Society as well as among the fishermen.
A senior employee told DAWN that all the new appointments were politically motivated, alleging that it clearly indicated that the new political administration was bent upon removing dissidents.
He remarked that prior approval from the FCS Board of Directors should have been sought for making these appointments, and these should have been made public through newspapers.
He added that it would have been better if some senior officials were appointed to these posts.
The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), while terming these appointments political, said the apprehensions of the PFF, regarding the government’s plans to take over the control of the Society, proved correct.
The Forum warned that it would have negative impact on fishermen community and urged the government to desist from such move.
RESOLUTION: Meanwhile, a large number of fishermen hailing from the coastal areas of Karachi assembled at Abdur Rehman Goth in Hawkesbay on Friday evening.
The meeting expressed its concern over the situation in fisheries sector, saying “situation is turning from bad to worse.”
The meeting urged the government to call the special general-body meeting, immediately, as requisitioned by 57 members of the Society.
It also urged the FCS chairman to call the general-body meeting of the Society so as to find out a way out of the present crisis.
Speakers representing different communities of fishermen were of the view that the lingering crisis was neither in the interest of the fishermen nor of the government.
They called upon the government to reconsider its policy on rent issue in the Karachi Fish Harbour, which, they said, had become a bone of contention between the FCS and the Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority.
