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VISAKHAPATNAM, May 27

THE Association of Indian Fishery Industries (AIFI), the Deep Sea Trawler Owners' Association and the AP Deep Sea Fishing Technocrats' Association have condemned the "malicious and motivated propaganda" against the trawler operators here that they are misusing the mid-sea bunkering facility and supplying diesel to the LTTE.

At a joint press conference here on Tuesday, the three organisations asserted that the local industry or trawler operators had nothing to do with the LTTE. Nor was there any misuse of the bunkering facility. The smear campaign was being carried on by certain vested interests who had lost business because of the bunkering facility.

Mr B. Srinivasa Rao, Secretary of the AIFI, clarified that Mr N. Venkateswarlu, who was once associated with the industry, currently did not have any official position to speak about the industry. Nor was he involved in the fisheries activity. "Misrepresenting himself as the president of the AP Deep Sea Fishing technocrats' Association, he hurled these serious charges and subsequently when we confronted him with it, he retracted from his position," Mr Rao said, showing a letter purportedly written by Mr Venkateswarlu.

Mr Ch. Ramamohana Rao said that he in fact was the president of the AP Deep Sea Fishing Technocrats' Association and Mr Venkateswarlu did not have anything to do with it.

Answering queries about the alleged misuse of bunkering facility, the spokesmen of the three associations said the local industry needed about 20,000 tonnes of diesel and two local companies were supplying it on the high seas through barges. "There is strict vigil over them and there is absolutely no scope for misuse," they asserted. They said the associations also supported the demand of the mechanised boat operators for extending the bunkering facility to them as well, but as there may be many procedural, logistical and other problems involved in the process, it would be better to supply them subsidised diesel on the shore itself. Like the other coastal States, Andhra Pradesh too should waive sales tax on diesel and subsidise it to promote fisheries.

Referring to other related issues, they said the Visakhapatnam port, managing the fishing harbour, had doubled the charges of late and it was becoming difficult for the industry. Berthing charges per vessel had been hiked from Rs 2,500-3,000 to Rs 7,000-8,000. The slipway charges had shot up from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh and the dry dock charges from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

They opposed the move to privatise the dry dock and the slipway and urged the Union Ministry of Agriculture not to permit it. A Chennai-based company had been chosen by the port for the purpose, they added.

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