KARACHI, Aug 5: The Sindh Taraqi Pasand Mallah Tanzeem, a non-governmental organization working for the welfare of local fishing community in Sindh for more than four decades, has called for immediate notification to issue licenses for fishing in fresh waters, in pursuance of the directives of Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim.

“The chief minister had issued these directives in a public meeting in Badin on April 21,” said STPMT Chairman Muhammad Arab Mallah on Sunday.

He said Sindh Assembly had passed a bill for the fishermen in 1976 that called for enlisting of fishermen in the province and immediate issuance of licences for five major inland fishing areas i.e. Manchhar Lake, Keenjhar Lake, Sobho Bhagat, Sindh Dhoro and Bakar Lake. Under this move, the licence was also issued for downstream Kotri region.

Later, the fishermen lists were forwarded to the Mallah Tanzeem to ensure their authenticity. The copies were also sent to deputy commissioners.

In 1992 budget session of Sindh Assembly, he said, an exemption of license fee was announced though the Mallah Taznzeem expressed its reservations and suggested for token fees for these licences to check encroachment of these inland waters in the absence of certain legal cover.

He regretted that the authorities concerned described the fishermen bill, which was passed some 29 years ago, as a test ordinance to escape its proper implementation.

He requested the chief minister to convene a meeting of fishermen representatives and fisheries department officials so that all grievances could be addressed through detailed discussion.—APP