THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Around 70 per cent of rescue work in Pathanamthitta during the floods was carried out by fishermen while 15 per cent of victims were rescued by Army and another 15 per cent by the local people, said Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma.
As many as 2,826 fishermen from across the state reached the flood-ravaged regions and rescued more than 65,000 people stranded in various parts. Funds for the maintenance and repair of boats as well as the money to be given to fishermen per boat will be provided from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.
She told Express that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will felicitate the fishermen involved in rescue operations on August 29 at Thiruvananthapuram. The Chief Minister will give away certificates at the felicitation function. The Minister said the Fisheries Department had coordinated the rescue operations from the start and on August 15, as many as 33 boats were involved in the rescue operations. However, when more areas went under water, fishermen came in large numbers and there were around 669 boats involved in the rescue operations. The Fisheries Department provided lorries for transporting the boats, fuel for the boats and arranged food for those engaged in rescue work, she said.
“We started our own control rooms in Chengannur and coordinated with Revenue Department control rooms to get ground-level information on the people stranded and their priority status,” she said.“There were instances when we required lorries for transporting boats. Interstate permit lorries which had come to deliver materials were made to carry boats meant for rescue operations. The police seized the vehicles and made them available to transport the boats. Barrels of fuel, along with food for the fishermen, were transported in police vans, with our control rooms coordinating the effort.”
In addition to the promised `3,000 per boat for a day, she said, the Fisheries Department will also provide `600 a fisherman.“We have given directions to repair damaged boats and engines in any suitable workshop as the fisheries workshop will be full of boats so that the fishermen don’t lose too many days trying to get their boats repaired,” she said.
The Fisheries Minister said the state government has worked out several projects to bring the fishermen community into the mainstream. The government is planning to do away with the middleman culture in the industry and to make provisions to sell the catch directly.