Bengaluru: Hundreds of fishermen from three coastal regions - Udupi, Karwar and Mangalore took to the streets to highlight the governments inaction in rescuing the seven fishermen from Malpe who have been missing for over three weeks.
A boat named Suvarna Tribhuja reportedly went untraceable on December 15 off the coast of Goa. It had left for deep sea fishing along with 20 other boats on December 13 from the Malpe fisheries habour.
The fishermen were to return within 10 days, but on December 22after repeated attempts to touch the base went futile, the boat owner Chandrashekar's brother Nithyanand approached the Coastal Security Police (CSP) Station at Malpe and lodged a missing complaint. The CSP in-turn alerted the Udupi district police.
Udupi-Chikmagalur MP Shobha Karandlaje from the BJP said that after her meeting with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Karnataka coast guard officials travelled to Maharashtra and Goa. All efforts were being made to trace the boat and bring the fishermen back safely, she assured.
Karandlaje also accused the Kumaraswamy government for “taking no measures to find out the missing fishermen.”
Participated in the protest March organised by Malpe Meenugarara Sangha against the ignorance of State govt towards the missing of fishing boat Suvarna Thirbhuja & the missing fishermen.@hd_kumaraswamy govt has taken no measures to find out the missing fishermen!!@YashpalBJP pic.twitter.com/f3jjARj9KH— Shobha Karandlaje (@ShobhaBJP) January 6, 2019
Congress MLC Jayamala who also hails from the region met the fishermen's families and assured them that the state had sought assistance of the Ministry of Defence, as well as, the Ministry of Home Affairs in order to intensify the search operations.
Karnataka Home Minister MB Patil too visited Udupi and met the fishermen's association.
Visited Udupi and met the Fishermen’s Association in Person. Have directed all officials to act swiftly and take all necessary actions to locate the missing fishermen, in accordance with experts.Entire state is worried and is hoping for the best. https://t.co/MrbTwosDvM— M B Patil (@MBPatil) January 5, 2019
But assurances from the various political figures didn't cut ice as hundreds from the fishing community were out on the streets in Udupi on Sunday in order to protest against the state government's apathy and highlight the plight of their community.
The protesters burnt effigies and demanded the government to expedite the operation to trace the missing fishermen. The protest saw the fishermen of all age groups and huge crowds blocked the NH-66.
Comments
0 comment