Government to procure Navigation through Indian Constellation to keep in touch with fishermen

The State government will be procuring NavIC (Navigation through Indian Constellation) messaging receivers to stay connected with deep-sea fishermen.
Fishermen. (File | EPS)
Fishermen. (File | EPS)

CHENNAI : The State government will be procuring NavIC (Navigation through Indian Constellation) messaging receivers to stay connected with deep-sea fishermen. A GO has been issued and Fisheries department has already initiated tender process. 

K Satyagopal, Commissioner of Revenue Administration (CRA) and Relief Commissioner, told Express that initially on a pilot basis, the government was planning to provide three NavIC receivers, two GPS-based NavTrak and two satellite phones for each cluster of deep-sea fishing vessels. “Generally, deep-sea fishing vessels go in clusters. The Fisheries department has identified about 80 such clusters, each comprising about 20 vessels. The potential ‘life-saving’ gadgets will be distributed before monsoon peaks,” he said. 

The official said that the governments of TN, Kerala and Andhra, whose fishermen face maximum trouble during cyclone-prone NE monsoon, are keen to procure the NavIC receivers. TM Balakrishnan Nair of Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services told Express that NavIC receivers are being manufactured in full swing by a Gujarat-based firm and Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited. 

Satyagopal said once this equipment was found suitable, the government would make it mandatory for all vessels to have them. “Meantime, in view of severe cyclonic storm in the Arabian Sea and depression in the Bay of Bengal, we have sensitised Omen Embassy, harbours of Maharastra, Gujarat and Kerala.” He said that out of 646 vessels, 514 have returned. Of the remaining 132, 86 vessels received communication and efforts are on to establish contact with 46 other vessels in which an estimated 509 fishermen are onboard.

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