Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh: Hundreds of fisherfolk staged a strong protest at the Joint Director of Fisheries office in the city’s fishing harbour, demanding the immediate release of funds under the Matsyakara Bharosa scheme. The demonstration was not a routine agitation. It was the boiling point of months of broken promises, where a community is pushed to its limits. The demonstration was led East Coast Fishing Boat Owners Association President Vasupalli Janakiram, supported by drivers and Vanka Gurumurthy, president of the Kalasheela Sangham, with hundreds accusing the Andhra Pradesh government of failing to credit funds to eligible beneficiaries.
The Scheme, the Promise, and the Silence
The Matsyakara Bharosa scheme means “fisherman’s assurance”, was designed to provide financial support to fishing families during the annual 61-day sea fishing ban, which runs from April 15 to June 14. During this period, fishing vessels are barred from operating in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone, leaving families without their primary source of income.
Over 1.2 lakh beneficiaries under the Matsyakara Bharosa scheme await financial assistance of Rs 20,000 each, as announced in the election manifesto of the NDA parties. The total liability on the state government for this year alone is estimated at around Rs 262 crore a figure the government has apparently struggled or refused to find.
The Photo-Op vs. The Reality
Here is what makes this failure particularly stinging. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu did not ignore the scheme entirely —he chose to make it a media moment.
The fishermen pointed out that although CM N. Chandrababu Naidu recently launched the fund release process in Nellore district, the majority of beneficiaries across the state are yet to receive the money. This is the Chandrababu government’s fiscal theatre in miniature: a ceremonial launch in one district for the cameras, while hundreds of thousands of families across Visakhapatnam, Krishna, Godavari, Srikakulam and beyond wait in silence. A scheme launched with fanfare in Nellore is not a scheme delivered, it is a press release dressed as governance. Nearly 750 fishermen in Visakhapatnam district had missed out on the scheme last year, leaving around Rs 1.50 crore unpaid.
A government that can borrow Rs 4,600 crore in a single bond auction but cannot release Rs 262 crore to 1.2 lakh fishing families during the only two months of the year when they cannot earn — has its priorities grotesquely inverted. The sea does not wait for technical glitches. These families cannot wait either.
