Housing colony announced for Gwadar fishermen

Bizenjo approves plan to provide 200 acres, Rs 300m for project

QUETTA:

Chief Minister Balochistan, Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo has approved a housing scheme for fishermen in Gwadar.

The Board of Revenue under the Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) would provide 200 acres of land for the establishment of a housing scheme for the low income fishermen, an official handout said.

The government has allocated Rs300 million for this purpose. The CM gave the approval for the establishment of the fishermen colony on a summary sent by the Balochistan Planning and Development Department, the official handout said.

The housing scheme would address the issue of lack of houses for fishermen.

This was a longstanding demand of the fishermen community in Gwadar and finally, the CM approved the summary, and the handout concluded.

The Balochistan government has already approved health insurance facility for registered fishermen in Gwadar.

Chief minister Balochistan approved the provision of the facility for over 89,000 registered fishermen in the port city.

In the first phase, registered fishermen from Gwadar would be issued health cards and later the fishermen of Hub and Lasbella would also be issued health cards.

This decision on behalf of the Balochistan government has come days after violent protests spread across the port city to press government for the acceptance of its demands.

The Gwadar Rights Movement (GRM) led by Maulana Hidayatur Rehman staged repeated protest demonstrations for the rights of fishermen and elimination of illegal fishing/trawling along the coastal belt.

The government has also arrested key leaders of the GRM for what it called causing damages to public and private properties during the violent protest.

The Balochistan government has already imposed section 144 in Gwadar, banning pillion riding and the display of weapons.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2023.