Fishermen slammed the government on Friday for 'overgrowing' problems at the fisheries harbour, saying 'rulers' are not concerned at all to see their complaints for better working conditions. Fishermen said that the working conditions at the harbour are not too difficult for them to operate without any fatal risks. They said that the poor hygienic conditions with a shortage of infrastructure made the working hard for the hardly equipped and protected fishermen and labourers.

"A fisherman drowned in a navigational channel of the fish harbour, while crossing over boats," president Sindh Trawlers Owners and Fishermen Association, Habibullah Khan Niazi told Business Recorder, saying the channel is out of space to anchor even a boat.

He said that the government showed no signs of its interest towards the harbour development or making the working conditions easier for the fishermen and harbour labourers. "We have been requesting to the government to see our complaints for removal of hurdles that are fatal for fishermen," he added.

The navy divers however latter recovered the body, he said, adding that the congestion at the harbour is the main cause behind the fisherman's death, who slipped down into filthy and hazardous water. He asked the government to pay due attention for resolution of outgrowing problems at the harbour and should facilitate the fishermen and labourers.

"Yes, the fishermen's complaints are true on poor infrastructure and unhygienic conditions at the fish harbour," a Karachi Fish Harbour Authority official confirmed to Business Recorder, saying that "the KFHA is deep financial crisis for the last several years to carry out maintenance work on basic infrastructure in the harbour".

However he showed unawareness over drowning of a fisherman at the channel, saying that "we have not received any complaint that a fishermen has drowned within the harbour jurisdiction. He may have died in water outside the KFHA navigational channel". He said that the fishermen are in poor working condition with dirty and unhygienic seawater and shortage of a proper basic infrastructure like a steel bridge and floating jetty.

He said that the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) is the main reason for the decaying working conditions at the harbour and scaling back of financial resources of the KFHA. "The KFHA is faced with sheer financial troubles with higher expenditures to maintain infrastructure of the harbour against the declining resources," he said, adding that the channel congestion is caused by the boat owners themselves by parking their vessels against the rules inside the harbour. The official hoped that a third time tendering for the start a development work under the harbour rehabilitation projects will help to improve the working conditions for the fishermen and labourers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017