HYDERABAD: Protests foil auction bid for fishing rights
Bureau Report
HYDERABAD, June 9: Hundreds of fishermen including women under the banner of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum staged a sit-in outside the fisheries office on Thursday in protest against the scheduled zero point auction of the Badin coastal area for catching fish.
The auction could not be held because the few contractors who turned up also returned when the fishermen raised slogans against them.
Fisheries department director Ghulam Mohammad Mahar invited PFF chairman Mohammad Ali Shah and other office-bearers for talks but they insisted that the director should come out his office and hold talks in presence of all the fishermen.
However, the director refused to come out of his office and talks could not be held.
The auction was postponed to June 16.
Talking to Dawn Mr Shah said the struggle would continue till abolition of the contract system and introduction of licence system for catching fish in Sindh waters including the Indus River.
He said the fishermen would again stage protest sit-in outside the fisheries office on June 16 and foil any attempt of auctioning the fishing rights.
A heavy contingent of police was deployed on the occasion to ensure law and order.
However, no untoward incident was reported.
CPP: The member of the central committee of the Communist Party of Pakistan Comrade Maula Bux Khaskheli has termed the federal budget as jugglery of figures.
He said a deficit budget could not be termed as people friendly.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, he said under orders from international financial agencies, unannounced taxes would be levied on the people and national enterprises would be sold out to meet the deficit.
Mr Khaskheli said frequent and inordinate increase in prices of diesel and petrol and essential consumer goods have broken the back of common men.
He said more allocation had been made for defence than education and health sectors.
He said the federal budget would prove to be a boon for the army, establishment and capitalist class.
DIRECTIVE: Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has directed the district coordination officers to ensure that agriculture field assistants and their supervisory officers regularly attend duties and provided guidance to farmers.
According to the directorate of the agriculture information in a directive the chief minister had taken serious note of persistent tendency of field officials of agriculture extension department, particularly field assistants of remaining absent from duties.
The chief minister directed for preparation of fortnightly
performance report of the field staff of the agriculture extension service.
The directorate said the adviser to the chief minister on food and agriculture, Mr Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, also issued similar warning to field assistants and directed concerned officers not to pay salaries to such staff until they obtain a certificate of performance from nazims of union councils.
As a follow up to the chief minister’s directives, the secretary agriculture set up a complaint centre in his office at the Sindh secretariat, Tughlaq house, Karachi for receiving complaints from farmers in this respect.
The phone numbers of the cell are 021-9211462, 021-9211468 and fax number 021-9211469.
In case of absence from duty and failure to provide proper services to farmers as per their job assignment, action will be taken against them under the Removal From Service Ordinance 2000, the directive said.
HYDERABAD, June 9: Hundreds of fishermen including women under the banner of Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum staged a sit-in outside the fisheries office on Thursday in protest against the scheduled zero point auction of the Badin coastal area for catching fish.
