Aqua farmers to support the Left in WB, Kerala

New Delhi, Apr 20 (UNI) The All India Aqua Farmers' Federation today announced it would support the candidates of the Left front in West Bengal and Kerala in the forthcoming assembly elections.

Federation President K Ravikumar told newspersons that the Congress-led ruling United Democratic Front and the ruling UPA government at the Centre had been "betraying" the aqua farmers.

He alleged that the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath were not taking any interest in matters relating to aqua farming and export of aqua products. "The Centre has been taking decisions which threatened to undermine the aqua farming sector." He said prawn cultivation, which has the potential to generate foreign exchange worth crores of rupees, had been facing a crisis.

India was now relegated to the background in prawn export because of the "negligent" attitude of the Centre.

In this context, Mr Ravikumar pointed out that the "lapse" on the part of the government in prevailing upon United States to withdraw the "anti-dumping duty" had led to the crisis in the aqua export sector.

UNI SH LS KN1812