KARACHI, May 3: Elected representatives of the fishermen community have held, what they called, the politically nominated government directors responsible for the ruination of the fish industry, and urged the Sindh government not to appoint people belonging to political parties as directors of the Fishermen Cooperative Society.

Criticising the policy of the Sindh government, these representatives said that since the government had started imposing political leadership, rather than public servants, on the FCS board, the situation was aggravating day by day in the fisheries sector.

Talking to Dawn, a senior director of the FCS board and the president of the Shamspir Fishermen Jamaat, Haji Mohammad Yunis, urged the Sindh government to review its policy of nominating directors from the ruling coalition, saying that this policy had pushed the fisheries sector to the brink of collapse.

Giving the background of the present crisis, he said the FCS, created in 1945, had been run smoothly till the early ‘90s. During this period, he said the 15-member board of directors of the FCS had eight government nominated directors and seven elected by the fishermen community according to the society’s by-laws.

He said that since most of the government nominated directors were high-ranking public servants, the FCS affairs had been run smoothly and both the government and elected directors tried to solve the problems at board meetings with mutual consent.

He was of the view that the society started facing serious financial and administrative problems soon after the induction of political figures in its leadership and the situation took an ugly turn when the provincial government started nominating its directors from the ruling parties.

The FCS director accused the government directors of indulging in corruption and spending the funds recovered by the society through commission on fish sale on their personal luxuries instead of fishermen’s welfare.

Haji Yunis recalled that in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, there was no financial crisis in the society and its administrative affairs were handled by a manager and a few low-paid officials.

He also pointed out that on Dec 27, 1995, a notification was issued by the Sindh government under which the movable and immovable properties and water areas at the Karachi Fish Harbour had been transferred to Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority and under another notification issued on Nov 11, 1996, the FCS was asked to pay to the KFHA 50 per cent of the commission collected by the society.

The FCS director claimed that such decisions had been taken without taking members of the board and FCS elected directors into confidence. He termed the decisions as contrary to the interests of the fishermen community.

He urged the provincial government to review its current policy of nominating political figures in the FCS and revert to its old policy of nominating public servants as representatives of the government on the Board of Fishermen Cooperative Society and the tradition of electing vice-chairman of the society from elected directors.

Haji Yunis also made it clear that the society affairs could not be managed without the consent of elected directors, who are the real representatives of the fishermen community.