Fishing vessel wreckage whips up political storm

BENGALURU: Suvarna Thribhuja, the boat with seven fishermen, went missing on December 16, 2018 after it left from Malpe harbour in Udupi. No one took the initiative to track the boat. But ever since the wreckage of the boat was found on May 1, netas seem to be sticking their oar in.
It took the efforts of the Indian Navy and local fisheries experts to finally pinpoint the spot where the ship could have sunk. It was INS Nireekshak, the naval ship, which found the wreckage. And this led to a political storm with allegations being thrown about, with the issue finally catching the attention of the top political leaders of the state. 

Ironically, the Navy finds itself in the middle of a controversy now, with the allegations against the INS Kochi, having sunk the fishing boat. 
On Saturday, allegations against the Indian Navy, of having a role in the disappearance of fishing trawler, surfaced again with former minister Pramod Madhwaraj asking for the navy to ‘come clean’ on what had happened to the INS Kochi and whether it had hit the fishing boat. 
“I will fight the case in Supreme Court if Navy officials do not come clean on whether their ship INS Kochi had hit Suvarna Thribhuja in mid-sea last December,” he said at a press conference. 
On Friday, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy went hot foot and met the families of the missing fishermen and assured them of compensation.

Not to be outdone, BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje also reacted to the wreckage being discovered. She said they are happy that at last the boat has been found. “Today we learnt that the boat was damaged and sunk. We will request the navy to investigate and find out what exactly happened,” she said.
However, for 137 days that the Suvarna Thribhuja was missing, there was an eerie silence, except for a visit by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to the families and Madhwaraj’s allegations.
At the centre of this storm, are seven families, hoping for some news about the fate of the crew members on board.