VIBHA VERMA
PANJIM: Goa government is struggling to provide safety equipment to hundreds of fishermen even two years after Cyclone Phyan hit the West coast, since the funding from the Centre is yet to be received.
A year after Cyclone Phyan claimed lives of several fishermen, including 67 fishermen and crew members employed across seven jetties in Goa in November 2009, the Central government declared a scheme for supplying safety equipment to the fishing community.
The first instalment of Rs 2 crore was immediately released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries in New Delhi for the State which covered 338 trawlers, canoes and fishermen. However, the second instalment of Rs 3 crore has been caught in bureaucratic red-tapism with sources telling Herald that the department has sent several reminders to the Centre but there has been no response. “The second instalment is pending since 2011. We have sent several reminders to the Centre and only assurances are given,” said an official.
The safety kits, under the scheme Supply of Safety Equipments under Development of Marine Fisheries, comprise global positioning system (GPS), very high frequency (VHF) wireless sets, search and rescue beacons, and fish finders fitted in each trawler.
The fisheries department received various proposals from the trawler owners applying under the scheme, which is now pending, thanks to the delay by the Central government.
Fisheries Director Shamila Monteiro, when contacted said that more than 500 trawlers and canoes are still to avail the scheme. “Under the first phase, 338 from the fishing community have benefited, while more than 500 are awaiting the kits,” she said.
According to an officer, fears were raised on the vulnerability of 110-kms long Goa coastline after the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 which is when the then Congress government had also assured it will provide trawler owners walkie-talkies and distress alert transmitters in a bid to secure its coastline. It had set aside Rs 1 crore to enhance security measures for fishermen in view of terror threats from sea. Most of them are in possession of this equipment.
