Sindh Taraqi Pasand Mallah Tanzeem, working for welfare of local fishing community of Sindh for last more than forty years, has called for immediate notification to issue licenses for fishing in fresh waters, in pursuance of directives from Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim.
" The CM issued these directives in a public meeting in Badin on April 21," said Chairman STPMT, Muhammad Arab Mallah while talking to APP here Sunday.
He said through campaigning by STPMP, Sindh Assembly passed a Fishermen Bill in 1976, which suggested that licenses be immediately issued for five major inland fishing areas ie Manchhar lake, Keenjhar lake , Sobho Bhagat, Sindh Dhoro, Bakar lake and local fishermen be enlisted spread over Sindh province.
Under this move, the license was also issued for Downstream (Kotri) regime. Later on, these fishermen lists were forwarded to STPMT, the sole welfare organisation of fishermen, to ensure the authenticity.
The copies were also sent to respective Deputy Commissioners. In 1992, Sindh Assembly in its budget session announced the exemption of license fees. However, STPMT expressed its reservations and suggested for token fees for these licenses to check encroachment of these inland waters in the absence of certain legal cover.
In 1995, this license and contract system was replaced by Mole system in the province, which was not practical for inland waters. This ended in loss of millions of rupees after six months. STPMT succeeded in getting a notification issued for these licenses for five major inland areas.