Ramanathapuram
Member of Parliament K. Navas Kani has visited the families of two fishermen – Minon, 41, and Chindas, 43, who had drowned in sea after they had set out for fishing on July 4 and went missing and distributed solatium of ₹ 50,000 each to the families.
Accompanied by former district panchayat chairman A Ravichandra Ramavanni and other leaders, Mr. Navas Kani visited the family of Minon in Pamban and Chindas at Thangachimadam on Sunday. He presented the solatium after offering condolences to the families.
Finding fault with the search operation, the MP said the two fishermen could have been saved, had there been effective and coordinated search and rescue operations by different agencies.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and INS Parundu, the Indian Naval Air Station, had joined the search operation only after the local country boat fishermen searched in vain for the missing fishermen, he said.
The fisheries department failed to coordinate the search operations, he alleged.
Meanwhile, Traditional Fishermen Federation Coordinator S. Chinnathambi urged the government to pay solatium of ₹ 20 lakh each to the two families, which had lost their breadwinners.
Pointing that the deceased fishermen are survived by school-going children, he said the government should take care of the education of the two children.