CHENNAI: A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the authorities concerned to disburse compensation within four weeks to the eligible fishermen affected by the oil spillage in Ennore.
The Bench of Justices S Manikumar and Bhavani Subbaroyan gave the direction, while disposing of a PIL petition taken up suo motu on Thursday.Motor vessel MT BW Maple, which was lying at the Ennore Port, collided with another vessel MT Dawn Kanchipuram on January 28, 2017. There was spillage of thousands of tonnes of oil, badly affecting the fishermen in the entire region up to Kovalam, which the High Court Bench suo moto treated as a PIL.
When the matter came up on Thursday, the Fisheries Director submitted that a committee comprising six members, under the chairmanship of the Additional Director of Fisheries, had been formed to suggest suitable ways to calculate the compensation amount to different categories of fishermen affected by the oil spill. They included fishing labourers, those engaged in fishing and allied activities, fish vendors, fisheries and allied activities, labourers of mechanised fishing boat owners, motorised country craft owners and non-motorised country craft owners. The report of the committee was under the scrutiny of the government.
Meanwhile, another committee was formed to prepare the bank data format with all details -- society number, ration card name, bank account and Aadhaar numbers. After this process, the relief amount will be disbursed within two weeks. The Fisheries Department is taking appropriate steps to disburse the amount of `141 crore to the oil spill-affected claimants through their bank accounts, the director added.
The Bench then directed that scrutiny be done and approval granted as expeditiously as possible. Preparation of de-duplication process should also be completed as expeditiously as possible. Due compensation should be disbursed to the eligible fishermen within four weeks, the Bench said and disposed of the suo motu PIL.