The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the State Disaster Management Authority to ameliorate the grievance expressed by fishermen to the extent possible, upon due assessment of the loss and damage that might have been suffered by them due to Cyclone Nisarga, within three weeks.

Fishermen in distress

A Division Bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice K.K. Tated was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Damodar Tandel, a fisherman and the chairman of Akhil Maharashtra Macchimar Kruti Samittee, a registered association of fishermen. The PIL, filed through advocate Rakesh Bhatkar, said there has been large scale destruction in the coastal districts owing to Cyclone Nisarga, leaving several fishermen in extreme distress.

Mr. Tandel’s grievance is that the State authorities assessed the damages due to the cyclone and issued guidelines for providing standards of relief to persons affected on June 10, and declared the amount of compensation on June 11. The State has considered damage caused to farmers, residential damages and small scale sellers however, there is no relief for fishermen. Even though the fisheries department of each districts separately carried out survey to asses damage/losses sustained by fisherman.

The PIL said fishermen are not included in the list of beneficiaries though they have sustained considerable damage due to the calamity and are the most affected as the cyclone has directly affected their livelihood.

It seeks for a direction to National, State and District Disaster Management Authority, to carry out survey to assess damages/losses sustained by the fisherman across Maharashtra due to the cyclone and submit reports regarding the same. Mr. Tandel also sought compensation and relief to fisheries community.

Representation to CM

The court noted that Mr. Tandel is the chairman of an organisation for fishermen and a representation had been made on June 13 to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. However, the representation, according to the petitioner, is yet to receive consideration.

The court directed the State authority to ameliorate the grievance by fishermen upon due assessment of the loss and damage that might have been suffered them within three weeks.