Udupi: “For the betterment of fishermen, all project and programmes designed by Pramod Madhwaraj will be given for approval,” said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The Chief Minister was addressing a gathering at the inaugural function of the Udupi District Fisher Women’s Convention, organised by the Mogaveera Yuva Sangatane here on November 19. Siddaramaiah said that there are more than one lac fisher women in the state, adding that he would sanction Rs 11.72 crores for interest on loans provided by the nationalised banks to fisher women.
“A sum of Rs 32 crore has been released for the development of Ambigara Chowdaiah who was a fisherman, and a further Rs 100 crore has been allotted for the Ambigara Chowdaiah Development Authority,” he said. In response to the demand for a monthly Rs 2,000 pension for fisher women above the age of 60, he said that he would look on it and added that if the government were to approve of it, he would have to provide the same benefits to other large communities like the Mogaveera.
Speaking about the demand for the inclusion of the Mogaveera in the ST category, he said that a request had been sent to the centre twice. He then commented that if the BJP leaders had shown any interest, the centre would have been convinced of fulfilling the demand.
Earlier, Nodoja Dr. G. Shankar submitted a memorandum with various demands of the Mogaveera Fishing Community to the Chief Minister.
During his address to the gathering, Minister of State for Fisheries and Udupi District Minister in-charge Pramod Madhwaraj said that under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, a lot of benefits have been received by the fishermen communities. He praised the Mogaveera community for its contribution to the twin districts- Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. He then spoke about the various developmental programmes under-way in Malpe Beach, Byndoor and the Hejamady Sea Fort.
Gopala Poojary Byndoor MLA, Halady Srinivas Shetty Kundapura MLA, Vinay Kumar Sorake Kaup MLA, Ivan D’Souza MLC, M A Gafoor President of Minority Development Authority, Dinakar Babu President of ZP, Meenakshi Madhav Bannanje President of CMC, Jayashree Sudhakar Mogaveera President of Kundapura Taluk Panchayat, Priyanka Mary Francis DC of district, Vasanthi Mohan Sarang Kundapura Town President, Shivanand Kapasi CEO of ZP, Anand C Kunder Entrepreneur, Yashpal Suvarna of Fishermen Federation, Janardhan Thonse, President of District Congress Committee and other among were present.
The Chief Minister symbolically released the Suraksha Health Cards during the occasion. Around 15,000 fisher women participated in the convention.
