‘Suvarna Tribhuja’ Boat Tragedy- Govt announces Rs 10 lakh Compensation for the Families of 7 Fishermen
Udupi: The Karnataka government has announced Rs 10 lakh each compensation for the families of the missing fishermen of ‘Suvarna Tribhuja’ boat tragedy, which had been missing since December 15, 2018, said Dr Jayamala- District minister in-charge of Udupi District.
Addressing media persons during a press meet at Hotel Ocean Pearl-Udupi on Friday, May 10, she said, “The State government had made all the efforts to trace the fishermen since day one after the missing complaint was filed. The State Government had asked the help of the Union government to trace the fishermen and also their boat.
The Navy, with some help from other fishermen, recently had located the wreckage of the fishing vessel 35 km off the Malvan coast in Maharashtra on May 3. The INS Nireekshak personnel had found the wreckage of the fishing boat with the help of Side Scan SONAR technology”.
“Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has given the approval to sanction compensation to seven fishermen families. Rs 6 lakhs will be given from the fishermen distress relief fund while the remaining Rs 4 Lakhs will be sanctioned from the chief minister’s relief fund. Apart from that, the State government will also write a letter to the Union government to give more compensation to the fishermen families”, added Dr Jayamala.
Recalling the incident, she said that the boat had gone for deep sea fishing from the Malpe harbour on December 13, 2018. The seven fishermen on board included five from Uttara Kannada and two from Udupi. On December 15, 2018, when the vessel was off the Malvan coast, it lost contact with other fishing boats and the harbour. Since then, there has been no word about the vessel nor the crew. Ever since the vessel had gone missing, ships, choppers and aircraft of the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and Coastal Security Police had scoured the seas, but could not find any clue. Defense minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also visited the houses of the missing fishermen in Udupi.
Fishermen Laxman, Ravi, Harish, Satish, Ramesh of Uttara Kannada district and Chandrashekar and Damodhar of Udupi district were on the fishing boat.