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ShareVadodara: On the eve of first anniversary of 26/11 attacks, family members of four missing fishermen abroad Kuber, the boat hijacked by terrorists, have requested the Maharashtra chief minister to consider them while providing financial assistance to victims of the Mumbai strikes.
The Indian Fishermen Association (IFA) has extended its support to the family members saying it had raised the demand soon after the attack last year and requested chief minister Ashok Chavan to consider their pleas on sympathetic grounds.
The four missing fishermen were identified as Ramesh Nagji from Simasi village in Junagadh, Balwant Prabhu, Mukesh Rathod and Nathu Nanu from Vasi Borsi village of Navsari.
Mukesh Rathod's wife Damyanti said, "Why the Maharashtra government has not given the financial assistance even after a year of the attack?"
His mother Shantiben too shared the same concern. "Till today nobody from the government has approached us to find out how we live."
Balwant Patel, Borsi village Sarpanch, said the missing fishermen are from his area and till date no financial assistance has been given to their family.
"If Maharashtra government showed human gesture by paying compensation of Rs5 lakh to the family of Amarsinh Solanki, the captain of Kuber boat, then why assistance is not paid to the family of other four missing fishermen?" asked Veljibhai Masani, president of Indian Fishermen Association.
Masani, quoting the captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab's statement in court, said that all the five crew members of Kuber boat were killed by the terrorists on thier way to Mumbai. Kuber was found abandoned on the sea coast with the beheaded corpse of Amarsinh Solanki on November 26 last year, he added.
Masani said, "Kuber boat is now back into the sea for fishing after spending huge amount on its repairing and replacing damaged parts." The GPS system used by the terrorists proved that this boat was used to cross the international maritime water boundary line, to reach Mumbai, he added.
"If compensation of Rs5 lakh each is declared for the kin of more than 183 victims, including foreigners, by the Maharashtra government, then why the family members of these four missing fishermen are deprived in getting it?" Masani asked adding that there should not be discrimination on giving the financial aid by Maharashtra government.
Now, one year is over after the 26/11 Mumbai attack which is enough to believe that the four missing fishermen of Kuber boat were killed by the terrorists, said Jivanlal Jungi, former president of the Porbandar Boat Association.
Jungi said that the body of Amarsinh Solanki was recovered from Kuber, the ill fated boat, near Mumbai while other four fishermen travelling in the same Kuber boat were killed and their bodies were thrown into the sea by the terrorists before reaching Mumbai on November 26 last year, he added. Kuber boat with the five fishermen on board had left Porbandar coast on November 14 last year for fishing into the Arabian sea, he said.
Manish Lodhari, secretary of Gujarat unit of National Fish Workers Forum said that there is no doubt about the terrorists killing the four crew members of Kuber boat. He said that the terrorists, after killing the four fishermen, should have thrown out their bodies into the sea and then the terrorists should have asked Amasinh Solanki to take them to Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai, the terrorists killed Solanki as well, he said. Solanki belonged to Wankbara area near Diu, the Union Territory, Manish said.
