The units purchased fish at Rs.4 less than the selling price for five months. K. Raghupati Bhat, MLA, said on Tuesday that the owners of the 22 fishmeal units in the State should compensate fishermen for purchasing their fish at a lesser price than its original rate from January till September this year on the pretext that the former had to pay high Goods and Services Tax (GST). Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Bhat said that the fishmeal units in the State had gone on a strike for a month against GST imposed on them. They had called off the strike after the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had agreed to waive the GST till September for the fishmeal units. The fishmeal units have to pay the reduced GST from September onwards. In the meantime, on the pretext of GST, the fishmeal units had purchased fish at Rs.4 less than the selling price from fishermen for five months (barring the off-season months) since January. The fishermen then approached the elected representatives in the matter. It was then that a delegation of elected representatives Shobha Karandlaje, MP, met Ms. Sitharaman and urged her to waive GST, which she did after receiving a letter from Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa who too made the same request. GST on fishmeal units was waived as a one-time concession. The previous H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in the State had not taken action on it as the State would have had to bear the burden of the move. But the State government under Mr. Yediyurappa had agreed to bear the burden for the sake of the fishermen, he said. It was estimated that the fishmeal units had benefited by about Rs. 25 crore by purchasing fish at a lesser price from the fishermen. Now that the Union government had waived GST till September, the fishmeal units should compensate the fishermen. Already, the poor fishermen were suffering due to fish famine and other issues. Should the fishmeal units fail to compensate the fishermen, they would have to face protests, Mr. Bhat said.