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KARACHI, Sept 10: Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) has approved a Rs156.7 million budget for the fiscal 2003-04 which envisages Rs30 million for fishermen’s welfare.
A sum of Rs140 million has been earmarked for development and non-development expenditure.
The budget was approved by the FCS board of directors at a meeting presided over by the provincial Minister for Fisheries Sardar Manzoor Ali Panhwar who is also chairman of the Society.
Mr Panhwar told the meeting that efforts would be made to further increase the allocation for welfare in the next budget to solve poor fishermen’s problems.
He asked the elected directors to chalk out welfare projects of health and education for their respective areas.
The minister underlined the need for use of modern technique in fishing in order to streamline the country’s fisheries sector on scientific lines.
The meeting was briefed on fresh recruitments which had led to unrest among many elected directors.
The meeting also constituted a committee, headed by Vice-Chairman Abuzar Mariwala for the recovery of outstanding dues. The committee would soon convene a meeting to settle various matters.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the FCS defended its recruitment policy and claimed that all the appointments had been made in accordance with the policy of the Department Promotion Committee which was set up by the previous administration.
The spokesman rejected reservations expressed by certain elected directors in this regard.
PFF: Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum also has strongly criticized the recruitment policy adopted by the present FCS administration, saying that the Society could not bear financial burden of the ‘surplus’ employees.
Condemning the fresh appointments, PFF Chairman Mohammad Ali Shah said that it would ultimately affect the welfare of the poor fishermen.
Mr Shah maintained that the Society was heading towards a new crisis which would eventually cripple the FCS. He said the Society was not created for creating grade-19 and 20 jobs for ‘some favourite people’. Rather, he insisted, it was created for the welfare of fishermen.
According to Mr Shah, the board of directors met on September 9 but four elected directors boycotted the session to register their protest against the recruitment policy of the new administration.
He said that the protesting directors reminded the meeting that a ban on fresh appointment was already enforced by the board and that the recruitment could not be justified in presence of the ban. A spokesman for the PFF, Saeed Baloch, said that the Forum would soon launch a campaign against the illegal appointments and promotions in the FCS.
He claimed that unrest prevailed among the Society’s employees over the FCS move in contravention of its rules and regulations.
