Fuel subsidy – 130,000 fisher families to benefit

by P. Krishnaswamy

The Government’s fuel subsidy for fishermen following their week-long protest in mid February is now being provided and nearly 130,000 families will benefit, Secretary to the Ministry of Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Dr. Damitha de Soyza, told the Sunday Observer. The subsidy is Rs.12 per litre for diesel and Rs. 25 per litre for kerosene. It will be augmented with an additional subsidy of 100 litres of diesel and 125 litres of kerosene for all mechanised fishing vessels as assured by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, she said.

The subsidy with retrospective effect from February 12 costing the Government about Rs.3 billion per month will be provided irrespective of any upward trends in fuel prices in the future, she said.

This is a god-send for Northern fishermen who had bought diesel and kerosene at the exorbitant price of Rs. 300 and above to operate their fishing vessels during the three-decade-long LTTE terrorism, she said.

District Fisheries authorities are now providing the subsidy and all fishing and other related activities are functioning smoothly, she said.

Three-thousand-seven-hundred-and-twenty multi-day boats, 866 day-boats, 19,034 Outboard Fibreglass Reintroduced boats (OFR) and 1,688 Mechanised Traditional Boats (MTRB) are entitled to the subsidy while over 22,000 non-mechanised boats will not be entitled to the subsidy, Ceylon Fisheries Corporation sources said.

Assistant Director of Fisheries, Mannar, B.S. Mirenda told the Sunday Observer that they have so far issued fuel subsidy coupons to 1,754 Fibre Glass Boats, 191 mechanised boats and nine multi-day boats. They would complete the issue of subsidy coupons within the next two weeks, he said.

Assistant Director of Fisheries, Batticaloa, T. George, said that they had already issued subsidy coupons to 1,600 mechanised boats, 1,100 out-board motor boats and 450 in-board motor boats. The issue of the subsidy coupons would be completed in another week, he said.