The entire village plunged into grief and tears when the body of a fisherman who was allegedly shot dead by pirates in the high seas near Saudi Arabia on May 29 was brought to Pozhikkarai near Ethamozhi in Kanyakumari district on Tuesday.
The body of S. Mathivalan (45) of Pozhikarai was received by State Fisheries Minister K.A. Jayapal, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Secretary S. Vijayakumar, Collector Sajjansingh R. Chavan along with officials of the Fisheries Department at Thiruvananthapuram airport and brought to Pozhikkarai around 10.30 a.m.
The Minister and officials placed a wreath on the coffin and paid homage on behalf of the State government. As expected the compensation amount of Rs. 5 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund was not disbursed to the family of the deceased. Official sources said that the amount would be disbursed to the family members by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in Chennai later.
Villages gherao Minister
When the Minister was about to return to Thiruvananthapuram to catch flight to Chennai, the women members of the families of the 25 fishermen stranded in Dubai for long gheraoed him and blocked his car.
As police were unable to remove the agitating women from the road, the Minister’s car (a VIP car provided by the Kerala government) took a different direction.
Later, the agitators targeted the cars of the Secretary and the Collector but in vain. Then they gheraoed Chairman of Tamil Nadu Fishermen’s Cooperative Federation (TAPCOFED) Xavier Manoharan, and expressed their anger to him.
When asked if there was any regulation in place for Indian fishermen going for employment in a foreign vessel and liability on the part of the employer in case of any untoward incidents, Mr. Vijayakumar, said that there was no such regulation. The fishermen did not inform the government of their foreign employment, but however, the subject would be looked into by the Public Secretary, he added.
