Fishing contracts for 54 reservoirs were allotted to different individuals in July, for the first time doing away with the Government Leasing Policy for Reservoirs of Inland Fisheries, 2004, which insists on tenders. This has hit hard those who used to bag the fishing rights through the tenders, mostly of the Muslim community.

State Fisheries Minister Purushottam Solanki said: “In the past there were agitations by religious groups like the Jains against the tender. So the practice was stopped this time to avoid hurting religious sentiments. It was also to promote poor fishermen and give equal opportunity to all castes.”

“Taking into consideration religious sentiments of this group, the state Government decided to give the fishing contracts silently rather than making a public noise through tenders,” Solanki claimed.

In the process, the state is losing crores. Usually, the bids for five-year fishing rights have crossed Rs 10 lakh for the bigger reservoirs extending over 200 hectares but many have been palmed off this year for a pittance without calling any tenders. For example, fishing rights for Bhadar dam in Rajkot were awarded for Rs 3 lakh instead of Rs 11 lakh for the last term. The contracted amounts for rest of the 53 dams too have been drastically slashed.

The Government’s policy is clear that tenders are a must while awarding fishing rights in non-tribal areas. But out of these 53 reservoirs, 48 fall in non-tribal and only three in tribal areas.

As many as five cases and one PIL have been filed against the state Government’s decision in the High Court. Responding to a plea filed by Birsa Munda Matsya Udhyog Mandali (Wankaner) on July 20, the Gujarat High Court on September 18 issued notices to the state Government to justify its action and decision.

The Government’s counter affidavit in the case cited nine reasons for not following tender system, and the chief one was that sentiments of people associated with religious groups get hurt when tenders are floated to catch fish.