Udupi Dist BJP flays Karnataka Govt for Neglecting Missing Fishermen
Udupi: The Udupi District BJP president Mattar Rathnakar Hegde alleged that the state government did not undertake proper search operations for the missing fishing boat, Suvarna Tribhuja, with seven fishermen onboard, that went missing off the coast of Goa on December 15.
Speaking at a press meet at the BJP office on Friday, December 4 he said that no efforts were made to identify the missing fishermen by the state government. When the fishermen missing case was registered the district minister was in Udupi. The seven fishermen’s families are suffering without knowing the fate of their breadwinners. The district minister should have visited the families of the missing fishermen. When the Lok Sabha By-elections were held for the Shivamogga-Byndoor constituency the fisheries minister Venkatrao Nadagowda had halted for about 15 days in Byndoor but he forgot to visit the families of the fishermen, he said.
Further, Mattar said, our BJP MLA’s and MP’s met Union minister Nirmala Seetharaman, Rajanath Singh Nitin Gadkari and appealed to trace the missing fishing boat, Suvarna Tribhuja, with seven fishermen. The state government has neither made any attempt to trace them nor had they entrusted the search operations to the Coastal police. Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman had directed the Coast Guard and Indian Navy to search for the missing boat.
The fishermen community has decided to shut down all the fishing operations in three coastal districts and stage a ‘rasta roko’ on the National Highway 66 at Karavali Junction on January 6. They have decided to do this in order to put pressure on the State government to trace the missing fishing boat with the seven fishermen on board. The district BJP has extended its support for the Rasta Roko, he said.
District BJP secretary Yashpal Suvarna, Naveen Shetty, Praveen Kappettu and Yuva Morcha president Shreesha Nayak were present during the press meet.