Thiruvananthapuram, May 16 : Kerala Fisheries Minister Saji Cherian claimed on Friday that the fortune of the fishermen community has changed since the Vijayan government came to power in 2016, and assured that he will do everything for the fisherfolk.

In a chat with IANS, Cherian said: "The biggest happiness for me is the way we have been able to improve the education standards of the once long forgotten community, when they were relegated to the backbench."

"The stage today is that all children of the registered 10.5 lakh fisherfolks can study a government-recognised course. Today, more than 100 medical doctors are the children of fishermen. We recently opened up that if any of them wish to study abroad, we will take care of them, and at the moment, there are two students whose fee is around Rs 90 lakh and studying abroad," said Cherian.

"The facilities at around 57 schools where the children of the fisher folks frequent have state-of-the-art facilities. We aim to give them the best of education free of cost, and we are committed to it," said Cherian.

When asked if education will see a lesser number of fisherfolk community enter their traditional vocation, Cherian said they are not worried because the fishing sector has improved hugely and in a few years from now, it will be technologically aided fishing.

"By now, we have eliminated the middlemen who exploited the hapless fishermen by taking their catches at very low rates and then auctioning at a high price, depriving them of the increased price at which fish is sold. In 46 of the 47 fishing harbours in the state, there is a harbour management committee, which does the auctioning. There is a 5 per cent charge which is levied by this committee, of which 4 per cent is given back to the fisherfolks, and we have also fixed a base price for each variety of fish," said Cherian.

"Moreover, by now, we have given electronic gadgets to fishermen. We have strictly enforced protocols for those who venture into the sea. Every person who is on a boat has to be a registered fisherman, and if there is any unregistered person on the boat, the boat owner will be levied a fine. By now, if these boats use the wrong fishing gear, then the boat owner is fined. Today, through this method, we are getting good income, and hence fishing is now scientifically regulated," said Cherian.

Every registered fisherman in the state has a free insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh, and if they pay around Rs 580 every year, then they get an additional cover of Rs 10 lakh.

"During my tenure, all the outstanding insurance payments since 2004 have been cleared," said Cherian.

"Our government has also ensured these fisher folks live in the proper environment, and by now 22,000 new homes have been built for them, and many more are in different stages of construction," added Cherian.

"Gone are the days when there were few motor fishing boats, and we aim to ensure that the traditional country fishing boat becomes history. Very soon, we will be introducing more technology-driven fishing, and will require a smaller number of people on a boat," said Cherian.

When asked if this has helped them in the elections, with a big smile, he said that in 47 out of the 140 Assembly constituencies, where there are a good number of the fisher folk, the Left Front has 41 of them.

Cherian signed off by saying that he has been heading the fisheries portfolio for the past four years, and if he did not have the full support of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, this would not have been possible."

/IANS