Hundreds of fishermen in coastal and other districts are passing hard days, as they are yet to get the promised food support in compensation from the government for not catching hilsa during the ongoing ban.
The reasons for the delay in the rice distribution range from mismanagement of the local authorities to a lack of coordination between the ministries concerned.
The government imposed a countrywide ban on fishing, selling, hoarding and transport of hilsa from October 12 to November 2. During the ban, each fisherman family was to get 20kg VGF (vulnerable group feeding) rice as compensation.
Nineteen days of the 22-day ban have already passed but many fishermen did not get any rice.
As a result, hundreds of fishermen from Chittagong, Barisal, Jhalakathi, Bhola, Barguna, Pabna, Sirajganj, Rajshahi and Manikganj are facing severe financial hardship. Many of them find it difficult to make ends meet.
And as many of them went fishing defying the ban, they were arrested, fined and even jailed, and thousands of metres of their valuable nets were burnt.
“The ban is nearing its end. But we are yet to get any rice. Some fishermen are now working as day labourers to run their families. Had the rice been given at the beginning of the ban, it would have been helpful,” said Nirmal Jaladas, president of Kathar Muslimabad Jelepara Fishermen Association in Chittagong, which has 240 members.
This year, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock listed a total of 3,56,723 families in 76 upazilas of 14 districts — Chandpur, Laxmipur, Feni, Noakhali, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Bhola, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Barisal, Patuakhali, Barguna, Pirojpur and Jhalakathi.
The government allocated 7134.46 tonnes of rice for these families, according to a fisheries ministry letter issued on August 14.
But the allocation is only half of what the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock had sought, said Narayan Chandra Chanda, state minister of the ministry.
“We requested for 14,000 tonnes of rice for the fishermen. But we got only half of that. So we could not provide rice to everyone,” the minister said.
“I know fishermen are suffering. As the hilsa conservation project saw a huge success, I’ll talk to the prime minister about this.”
Apparently, there is a lack of coordination between the fisheries ministry, and the disaster management and relief ministry.
Shah Kamal, secretary of the disaster management ministry, said they provided more rice than what the fisheries ministry had sought.
He, however, said it was not possible to provide rice to the fishermen of all the 29 districts, where the ban is in place.
“The rice is for vulnerable people. Do you think all fishermen are vulnerable? It is not possible to provide rice to all fishermen as we do not have separate budget for them,” he pointed out.
”Still, we have allocated rice for some districts that were not on the list of the fisheries ministry. For example, Munshiganj was not on the list. Still, we allocated rice for Munshiganj.”
Contacted, Munshiganj Deputy Commissioner Saila Farzana said they were yet to get any rice.
“We sought rice for 1,984 registered fishermen. But we haven’t yet got any. Maybe we’ll get it later,” she said.
Although the ban is in place in 29 districts, fishermen of only 14 districts are entitled to get the benefit.
For example, fishermen of Rajshahi, Pabna and Sirajganj are not on the list of the food support programme.
“Law enforcers arrested many fishermen in Sujanagar upazila and sent them to jail for catching fish. We are afraid of the arrests,” said Toyzal Sheikh, a fisherman of Bonkhola village in Pabna’s Sujanagar upazila.
He added that his family has been passing days half-fed.
The stories of other fishermen are similar.
Al Amin, UNO of Dohar in Dhaka said, “We haven’t yet received any allocation for the fishermen of Dohar. I’ve written it to our higher authorities and also discussed the matter with the local lawmaker.”
“The fishermen might get the compensation in November …” said Al Amin. There are 826 registered fishermen in Dohar.
Against this backdrop, many fishermen are turning to local loan sharks or non-government organisations (NGOs) for money to run their families.
“Every week, I have to pay Tk 900 in instalment to an NGO. But I have no income now,” said Narayan Chandro Malo.
However, rice already reached several districts.
Some fishermen from Patuakhali said they received the VGF rice last Friday, weeks after the ban was enforced.
Abul Bashar Akon, 35, from Nimdee village in the district’s Baufal upazila, said he got 20kg of rice that day.
In Barisal, there are 73,594 registered fishermen. Of them, 49,049 have been registered especially for hilsa catching. But 43,644 fishermen have been approved for the food support programme.
Fishermen of four out of 10 upazilas in the district got rice yesterday, said Bazlur Rashid, deputy director of the department of fisheries in Barisal.
In Bhola, 88,111 fishermen out of 1,20,000 have been approved for the programme. Fishermen of only seven out of 70 unions in the district got the support so far.
Bhola DFO Rezaul Karim said only two-thirds of the registered fishermen would get the food support.
The fisheries ministry allocated Tk 90 lakh to the fisheries officials of 29 districts for conducting the drives and campaigns against netting hilsa, said ministry officials.
According to the department, 1,614 mobile courts do far conducted 8,252 drives and seized 22.46 tonnes of hilsa and 106.88 lakh metres of gillnets.
The administration filed 1,261 cases against fishermen and realised Tk 33.62 lakh in fine. About 900 fishermen in 29 districts were jailed for different terms for catching hilsa violating the ban.
Bangladesh is now the largest hilsa producing country in the world, accounting for around 60 percent of the world’s production. The country produced 3.87 lakh metric tonnes of hilsa in 2014-15, according to the fisheries department.
The production may have crossed 4 lakh metric tonnes in the last fiscal year, said officials involved in the hilsa conservation project.
Before the government took steps to conserve hilsa, the production was only 1.99 lakh tonnes in 2002-03 fiscal year.
