Fishermen, labourers and traders on Thursday protested against the 'illegal' allotments at fish harbour with a three-day deadline to Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) to cancel all such lease agreements. A new faction called All Pakistan Mahigeer Welfare Association (APMWA) led the stationary protest at the harbour which a large number of fisheries workers, fishermen and boat owners attended.
The angry protestors made a number of demands including removal of Managing Director KFHA, Abdul Ghani Jokhio and reversal of plot allotments. They warned the authority of staging a bigger demonstration on Native Jetty to block all transportation to and fro seaport if the MD did not step down within three days.
They accused the KFHA of forcing them to joblessness and installing the non-stakeholders by providing them plots at fish harbour. "The KFHA is displacing us and depriving us of our livelihood," they said. Representative of Sindh Trawlers Owners and Fishermen Association (Stofa), Sarwar Siddiqui and Habibullah Khan Niazi, Directors of Fishermen Co-operative Society (FCS), Asif Bhatti and Haji Khan Mir Niazi and others spoke during the protest and resented the KFHA's move.
They accused the MD KFHA of giving plots to his cronies and intending to displace the fishermen, boat builders, boat mechanics, and boat owners who are working at the harbour for decades. They said that these plots were being allotted on lower rates against their market value, appealing to caretaker government to take action against the authority chief and undertake inquiry into the 'scam.'
However, officials of KFHA denied all allegations by the protestors and called them non-stakeholders of fisheries sector, who had grabbed the harbour's prime land. "They are not fishermen at all. They are land grabbers and encroachers against whom KFHA has filed FIRs with police to evacuate its plots," officials said.
They said the protestors were creating hurdles in "smooth" execution of the master plan of the harbour development by the authority. "The protesters have occupied the harbour's prime land for years but paid no revenue to the authority," the officials said.
They said all the plot allotments were made under the master plan and the authority's bylaws to those applicants who wanted to build their seafood processing plants and other facilities at the harbour. "Now the leasee need land possession of land, which these non-stakeholders have occupied," they said. Officials said that KFHA was willing to make agreement with the protesters for plot allotments but they were not ready to follow the lease conditions and pay taxes to the authority. "The authority will give plots only to those who are ready to pay taxes to it," they said.