KOCHI: The Lakshadweep Government Employees Union has submitted a memorandum to the director of ports, shipping and aviation of the island to withdraw the order directing to deploy them on board local fishing boats for intelligence collection and monitoring fishing boats. Union general secretary M P Fathahudeen said the order made employees anxious. The move will require government staff to spend around 8-10 hours on fishing boats, which will lead to mental stress as they don’t have the training to undertake such work.
He said the local police, marine force, Coast Guard and Navy have cast a security cordon around the island. The Central and state intelligence units too are capable of detecting suspicious movement and issue security alerts. Meanwhile, Kavaratti village panchayat president T Abdul Khader wrote to the district collector urging to provide food kits or financial assistance to all residents of Lakshadweep as they have been unable to work due to complete shutdown for the past two months.
The lockdown and curfew have made life miserable for workers, including fishermen, private company staff and workers from the mainland. Merchants are unable to sell their commodities, he said. A meeting of the village panchayat on Monday had unanimously decided to apprise the collector of the situation in the island. Meanwhile, NCP senior vice-president C N Attakoya also wrote to the administrator seeking a relief package to end the suffering of people who lost their livelihood due to the continuous shutdown.
HC DIRECTIVE SOUGHT TO PROVIDE FOOD KITS TO ISLANDERS IN NEED
Kochi: Nasih KK, a member of the Lakshadweep Waqf Board and Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF) state secretariat, approached the High Court seeking a directive to the Centre and the Lakshadweep administration to provide food kits to needy islanders and transfer cash into their account until the lockdown is lifted. He said 80% islanders depend on fishing, coconut cultivation and coir twisting, and many have been rendered jobless following the lockdown.