Demand to lift ban on fishing

A LARGE number of fishermen and boatmen, under the banner of National Association of Fishermen, Mallah Association (Uttar Pradesh) and Mallah Samudai Sangharsh Samiti staged a massive dharna at the Commissioner?s Office in support of their various demands here on Tuesday.

A LARGE number of fishermen and boatmen, under the banner of National Association of Fishermen, Mallah Association (Uttar Pradesh) and Mallah Samudai Sangharsh Samiti staged a massive dharna at the Commissioner’s Office in support of their various demands here on Tuesday.

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Major demands of the demonstrators included lifting of ban over fishing and plying of boats and motorboats in the Ganga.

Besides, the demonstrators also demanded that Nishad, Mallah, Kewat, Godia, Manjhi, Bind, Kashyap, Dheemar, Kahar, Turha, Bhar and Rajbhar castes should be included into Scheduled Caste (SC) category.

Thousands of fishermen and boat sailors, including large number of women and kids, took out a rally from Chitranjan Park in Dashashwamedh area, which after passing from Godowlia, Girjaghar, Nai Sarak, Chetganj, Lahurabeer, Jagatganj and Nadesar culminated into a dharna outside the Commissioner’s Office.

Addressing the gathering, the State General Secretary of National Association of Fishermen, Chaudhary Lautan Ram Nishad that fishing and plying boats in river is the only way of earning a livelihood for fishermen community and such ban would render a large number of fishermen unemployed in Varanasi.

Prominent among others who addressed the dharna included Subhash Chandra Sahani, Chote Lal Mallah, Gopal Sahani, Virendra Sinha, Banarasi Nishad, Bachcha Lal Bind and Anil Bind.

They also announced to stage a massive rally in Lucknow on August 13 in support of their various demands.