No trace of missing fishermen even after a year

It is one year (December 15) since seven fishermen on board the ill-fated Suvarna Thribhuja fishing boat went missing.

The fishing boat had left for fishing from Malpe Port in Udupi on December 13, 2018, and remained incommunicado from December 15 midnight. The families of the fishermen have been anxioulsy waiting for their return all these days.

Missing fishermen Damodar Salian’s brother Gangadhar Salian said, ''My father Suvarna Tingalaya had waited for his son’s return for 11 months and died in November. Now my mother is ill. None have officially announced whether the missing fishermen are alive or not''.

Damodar Salian’s wife has gone back to her parental house.

The fishermen have been demanding the government to reveal truth on the tragedy of the boat.

Though the Indian Navy had found the wreckage of fishing vessel Suvarna Thribhuja on May 1, there is no information on the whereabouts of the missing fishermen. The government should not play with the emotions of the poor fishermen, Gangadhar said.

The family of missing fishermen Chandrashekar Kotian too is waiting for a communication from the government.

Deputy Directors of Fisheries department in Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts had written to the Fisheries department director seeking compensation for the families of missing seven fishermen.

Considering it as a special case, the department had asked the Centre to release compensation.

"The state government had released Rs 11 lakh compensation each to the family members of the seven missing fishermen. However, the Centre has not released any compensation so far. We had appealed to the Centre to consider it as a special case. However, no order has come in this regard so far,” said an official from the Fisheries department.

"To claim the insurance amount for the fishermen, the post mortem report has to be submitted. The failure to trace the body of the fishermen has been posing a hurdle to the payment of compensation from the centre,” said officials.