Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Dec 24: 'Suvarna Tribhuja' deep sea fishing boat which had left Malpe port, had sunk in the sea at Malvan, Maharashtra, taking with it all the seven fishermen including a boat partner, over three years back. But other than the personal compensations paid to the families of individual fishermen, the compensation relating to the fishing boat has not been disbursed so far.
The families which had nursed hopes that their breadwinners would return one day, have been dashed.
Suvarna Tribhuja (file photo)
The boat had left the shore from Malpe on December 13, 2018, with seven fishermen from Udupi district including partner, Chandrashekhar Kotian. It had moved towards Maharashtra but had lost its contact with others at night when in Malvan on December 15. The remains of the boat were detected 65 meters deep under and 35 nautical miles away from Malvan seashore on May 1, 2019.
The fishermen had reasons to suspect that the boat would have sunk after either INS Kochi ship of the Indian Navy which had traversed this route that day, or some other ship rammed into it, rather than believing that inclement weather would have caused the tragedy. The request made to the defence ministry to investigate and provide suitable compensation to the families has failed to materialize. Even though the then defence minister, Nirmala Sitaraman, later became finance minister, the centre has not shown the commitment to meet the promises made to the fishermen then.
The state government has paid compensation of Rs 21 lac each to the seven families. The insurance claim of Rs 40 lac has been settled against the loan liability of Rs 45 lac. Therefore, the family of Chandrashekhar Kotian and the other partners continue to reel under the burden of debt. Deputy director of fisheries, Malpe, Ganesh, said that no compensation amount has so far been received towards this tragedy from the central government.
Malpe Fishermen’s Association former president, Satish Kunder, has urged the government to disburse compensation to the fishermen who lost a boat worth one crore rupees in the tragedy, without further delay.