Three fishermen drown in Hemavathy backwaters

The trio went missing after their coracles toppled on Thursday

The bodies of three fishermen, who had drowned in Hemavathy backwaters, near Chowduvalli, in the taluk, on Thursday, were fished out on Friday afternoon.

Harish, Shankar and Thrivenu, who went for fishing on Thursday evening, went missing after their coracles toppled. Fire personnel, assisted by local fishermen, launched search operations at 8 am on Friday, using motor boats.

The coracle of Harish and Shankar toppled and the duo were drowning as they did not know how to swim. Thrivenu, who was on another coracle, rushed to their rescue. Meanwhile, he also drowned.

The body of Harish was fished out first, followed by that of Shankar and Thrivenu by noon. Family members of the deceased were seen hurling curses at the Karnataka State Fisheries Federation authorities. Women alleged that the Federation was exploiting them without providing any facilities.

“The Federation, which has got the contract to fish in the backwaters, harasses local fishermen, who are allowed to fish in the waters using unmotorised boats.

There are instances of the authorities damaging the nets of local fishermen. When they hire local people for fishing, they also employ those who do not know swimming. This leads to accidents. So, the government should give the contract to an association of local fishermen,” they said.

As the people protested, demanding a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for the family of the deceased, Rs five lakh immediately, keeping the bodies of the victims, MLA H K Kumaraswamy visited the spot and tried to pacify them.

After learning about the problem, he demanded that the representatives of the Federation visit the spot to pay compensation.

He said that he would negotiate with the government to provide adequate compensation.

Meanwhile, when the people spotted a Federation supervisor, they attacked him. The supervisor, Uthappa, had to be rescued by police personnel.

Additional Superintendent of Police J K Rashmi, Tahsildar Manjunath and Fisheries department officials visited the spot.