VIJAYAWADA: The long wait of over 4,000 fishermen to reach their respective hometowns in various districts of the State ended on Friday.
A total of 44 buses allocated by the Gujarat State government where these fishermen were stranded since the enforcement of lockdown, reached Vijayawada on Friday.
The 44 buses, with approximately 75 fishermen in each one, reached the city in three phases - 12 in the morning, five in the afternoon and 27 in the evening. The buses started from Veraval coast in Gujarat, where the fishermen were stuck, on April 28.
The fishermen were checked thrice on their way - once before leaving Gujarat, followed by checking done at Jaggaiahpet on Andhra Pradesh-Telangana border and finally when they reached their respective districts. “Only after ensuring that no one showed symptoms of coronavirus, they were allowed to enter the State,” said Krishna district joint collector K Madhavi Latha. The fishermen will be kept in quarantine centres as per protocol before being allowed to go home.
While the fishermen were overjoyed after reaching their own State, lack of proper food, sanitation and drinking water facilities throughout their journey bothered them much. “We were only given three sachets of water per day during the journey. On the day when we left they gave two to three chapatis to each person, on which we had to survive for the entire day,” said 24-year-old Lakshmana from Srikakulam.
‘No help from Gujarat authorities’
A fisherman said that none of the Gujarat State authorities offered them any help. For the initial one month of the lockdown, their boat owners only provided them food and they stayed in boats