This year, the annual fishing holiday, meant to replenish fish stocks along the Andhra Pradesh, coast,
Inordinate delay in the payment of ex gratia for the ban period seems to have forced more and more fishermen to venture into the sea at one go to make money at the earliest.
The government extended the annual 45-day ban on fishing in the Bay of Bengal from April 15 to 60 days this year and initially announced an ex gratia of Rs. 4,000 per fishermen.
Since the fishermen don’t know any other job except fishing and the government itself is imposing the ban during the egging season every year, the ex-gratia is being distributed in the form of rice every year. This year, however, the government announced it in the form of cash and wanted all the fishermen to open bank accounts, so that the amount could be deposited directly into their accounts.
The Fisheries department has identified 17,500 fishermen from East Godavari district were eligible for the ex-gratia. Since some of the bankers insisting on initial deposit, most of the beneficiaries opened accounts by depositing Rs. 500.
Even as the ban period was completed and the fishermen resumed fishing activity, the amount was not deposited into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. It is learnt that a sum of Rs. 3.2 crore has been released from the government a couple of days ago, which is less than Rs. 2,000 per head. However, the amount has not been deposited into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries even today.
A recurring narrative of the fishermen who returned safely to shore over the last two days has been that it was not the help of the rescue agencies that saved them but their own fighting spirit.
One reason for this is the absence of an emergency help system for fishermen at sea. Except GPS, fishing boats are not equipped with any other gadget and most fishermen don’t even have life jackets.
The lack of technological rescue systems delays commencement of rescue operations, as happened in this episode, and fishermen in distress are basically left to fend for themselves.
“The Fisheries Department announced a scheme last year to provide modern gadgets and life jackets to fishermen. The government bears 70 per cent of the subsidy, but each fisherman needs to spend Rs. 40,800 to avail the scheme. We are unable to raise that sort of money,” said Kamadi Matha Raju, president of the Kakinada Mechanised Fishing Boat Owners Welfare Association.
The Coast Guard launched a pilot project to give distress alert transmitters (DAT) to owners of mechanised fishing boats four years ago. The agency distributed 65 DAT sets free of cost in the State including 10 sets in East Godavari district. This gadget, the size of a lunch box, can be placed in a corner of the boat and fishermen can get help from Coast Guard by pressing the help button during emergencies.
The gadget provides access to the Coast Guard control room in Chennai. In case a boat sinks, the DAT alerts the control room automatically giving the coordinates of the boat.
“It was only a pilot project. It was not continued further,” C.V.N. Murthy, Assistant Commandant of Coast Guard, Kakinada, told The Hindu on Tuesday.
