The fishing community’s spirit in volunteering their services to rescue hundreds of people stranded by the floods last month came in for fulsome appreciation at a function organised by the royal family of erstwhile Travancore to felicitate them here on Saturday.
Nearly 2,800 fishermen were involved in the rescue operations.
Unparalleled service
Pooyam Tirunal Gouri Parvathi Bayi, member of the royal family of erstwhile Travancore, in her opening remarks, said the fishers had rendered unparalleled service to the State at great risk to their lives and without an eye on any kind of recognition.
Their sacrifice should not go in vain and questions such as what led to the disaster and what could be done to prevent a recurrence should be pondered.
Aswathi Tirunal Gouri Lakshmi Bayi said the disaster left many unanswered questions, especially related to human activities.
It had helped people put aside differences of religion and caste and come together to help each other.
Not to forget
The efforts of the fishing community and others to save lives despite many odds should not be forgotten.
Minister for Cooperation Kadakampally Surendran said solutions requiring imagination and foresight were needed from the people to back the government’s efforts to rebuild the State.
During the floods, the government had coordinated rescue operations, involving Central and State agencies.
However, the scale of the disaster was such that the rescue operations were proving inadequate till the fishermen came to the fore and succeeded in averting a major loss of lives.
State’s ‘army’
The fishermen were the State’s ‘army’ as termed by the Chief Minister, he said.
V.S. Sivakumar, MLA, said as a representative of the coastal community, he was proud that the fishing community that faced many challenges in their everyday life had come forward to rescue hundreds of people.
Their efforts would never be forgotten by the State, he said.
Others felicitated
Adithya Varma of the royal family of erstwhile Travancore and A. Hemachandran, Director General of Police, Kerala Fire and Rescue Services, were present during the felicitation.
Besides fishermen, the Fire and Rescue Services and representatives of the Latin Archdiocese, Seva Bharati, Dheevara Sabha, Matsya Thozhilali Samrakshana Samithi, and others were felicitated at the function.
