PADUSHIRALI (UTTARA KANNADA DIST): The families of the 11 people who drowned while collecting clams in the Padushirali estuary in Bhatkal taluk last week have received compensation of Rs 16.5 lakh each.
The state government had earlier announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh for the family of each deceased. Former minister Mankal Vaidya met the bereaved families and distributed the compensation cheques.
The total compensation package comprises `55 lakh from the state government (Rs 5 lakh per family), Rs 1.10 crore from the Department of Fisheries (Rs 10 lakh per family), Rs 50,000 each from the Janatha Co-operative Society, Bhatkal, and Rs 1 lakh each as a personal contribution from Mankal Vaidya. In total, each family received Rs 16.5 lakh.
Vaidya also announced that he would take responsibility for the education of all children from the affected families. He said efforts are being made to employ one member from each family in the co-operative banks in the district.
Clarifying the sequence of events that led to the tragedy, Vaidya said the victims had been collecting bivalves in the estuary for nearly a decade.
“There has been a tradition of collecting clams in the estuary. The victims found a large number of clams on and beneath the rocks. Two persons entered deep water and began drowning. In an attempt to rescue them, the others also drowned,” he said.
Questions had been raised about how experienced collectors could drown, given that collecting and selling clams was their regular source of livelihood.
The minister appealed to organisations and philanthropists to extend support to the bereaved families and assured them that housing would also be provided.