Chennai,  Fishermen organisations of Tamil Nadu have urged the state government to monitor the functioning of the fishermen cooperative societies.

They demanded that the cooperative societies function in a proper and transparent manner and refrain from collecting extra money from them under the National fishermen Savings-cum-relief schemes.

According to fishermen association, this scheme envisages each fisherman to contribute Rs 1,500 while the government contributes Rs 3,000 or double the amount that individual fisherman contribute.

The money is used to fund the needs of the fishermen during the ban period for fishing in the state and when fishing is not possible.

All Fishermen association president Nanjil Ravi Puyal told IANS: "The fishermen societies must collect the amount in monthly installments as currently it is being collected in a single shot which is difficult for the fishermen."

He said that resolutions regarding the functioning of the society have to be passed by the directors and other office-bearers of the concerned societies but is not done properly.

The fishermen association leaders said that they would be directly petitioning the Chief Minister to ensure that the societies are functioning properly and in a transparent manner.

Marimuthu Nanjappan, a fisherman from Kasimedu village in Tamil Nadu, while interacting with IANS said: "There are 18 fishing villages in Kasimedu alone and each society has 1,000 members each. This means huge money is being transferred through these societies leading to political clout for the directors of these societies. However, they are not providing us proper help at the time of our need and these societies commenced operation only for helping the fishermen in distress."

The fishermen and association leaders fear possibilities of misappropriation of funds as the government support coupled with the fishermen contribution leads to a huge financial base for these societies.