Kerala CM rejects Oppn charge on deep sea fishing contract with US firm

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday dismissed the opposition chargethat the government has entered into an agreement for deep seafishing contract with a US-based firm, saying no foreigncompany will be allowed to engage in deep sea trawling in thestate waters.

Vijayan asserted that his government will not deviatefrom its fisheries policy and will continue to encourage thetraditional fishermen to become the ''owners of deep seafishing vessels''.

''We will continue with our fisheries policy drafted in2019 to encourage the fishermen in the state to become theowners of deep sea fishing vessels.

As per the government policy, no foreign company orIndian corporate will be allowed for deep sea trawling alongthe Kerala coast,'' he said in a press meet here.

Vijayan also respondedto the allegationlevelled by theLeader of Opposition earlier in the day on how the CM couldnot know about such a project when the KSINC, under his directcontrol, had signed an MoU with a US-based firm.

''Neither the state government nor any of its departmentshave not signed any MoU in this regard. KSINC is a publicsector undertaking.

It is normal for such undertakings to sign MoUs in anyconferences or investment meets. It would come for theconsideration of the government only later. A policy decisionin this regard would be taken only then,'' Vijayan said.

He said such agreements should be brought to theattention of the government at the stage of implementation.

''But, in this case, concerned officials had not broughtit to the notice of the government,'' he added.

''Actually, a memorandum submitted by the company to theindustries department was actually now being propagated by theopposition as the contract agreement,'' Vijayan said, addingthat it was an attempt by the opposition to create asmokescreen of allegations ahead of the Assembly polls.

The chief minister also lashed out at the Congress andsaid it was the Narasimha Rao government, which had allowedthe foreign corporates to engage in deep sea trawling alongthe coast of the country.

''However, that's not our policy. We fought against theCongress policy aiding the corporates to exploit the deep seasfishing grounds of the country.

This government is driven forward by such policiesopposing the corporates,'' Vijayan said.

The opposition Congress and the Left governmentcontinued to spar over the alleged deep sea fishing contract,even as Fisheries minister J Mercykutty Amma dismissed theallegations and maintained there was no such agreement.

The minister accused Chennithala of trying to 'mislead'the fishing community by raising baseless allegations ahead ofRahul Gandhi's expected visit in coastal district Kollam nextweek.

Earlier in the day, Chennithala released a photo ofMercykutty purportedly holding discussions withrepresentatives of EMCC International.

Chennithala alleged that the photo, in which theminister, officials of EMCC International and the fisheriesdepartment could be seen, was proof for the discussion heldhere between the government and the US based company.

At a press meet, he claimed there was a meeting betweenthe minister and the company representatives in NewYork also,photos of which were expected to be available soon.

He also released what he termed was 'documentaryevidence' -- a purported concept note submitted by the companyto the fisheries department and the letter sent by thefisheries principal secretary to the EMCC president on thecontroversial project.

Though the minister admitted that the EMCC officials hadmet her here, she stood by her earlier stand that there was nosuch meeting in New York, as alleged by the opposition.

''The state's fisheries' policy was formulated in 2019after holding discussion with all trade unions and other stakeholders.

As per the government policy, no foreign company orIndian corporate will be allowed for deep sea trawling,'' shesaid.

The policy even says that the number of fishing vesselswould be regulated, she said, adding that no action would betaken in violation of this.

The photos were made public a day after the stategovernment had rejected as 'baseless' his corruption charge inan agreement inked by the state-owned Kerala Shipping andInland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) with the US-based EMCCInternational for the deep sea fishing project.

''It has now been proved that whatever the minister hadsaid were blatant lies.'' ''The company officials have already confirmed to themedia that they had held discussion with her at New York alsoin this regard.

The photos of that meeting are also expected to beavailable soon,'' Chennithala said here on Saturday.

The Congress leader alleged that there was more ampleevidence to confirm that Mercykutty Amma had held discussionswith the US-based firm and Industries Minister E P Jayarajanwas well aware of the project and claimed that the Leftgovernment had shown keen interest to take it forward.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)