Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, May 14: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is learnt to have served notices on the state and central government relating to the disappearance of 'Suvarna Tribhuja' fishing boat along with seven fishermen.

The commission has registered suo motu case based on media reports.

All contacts with the boat which had left from Malpe port on December 13, 2008, were lost since 1.30 am on December 16. The wreckage of the boat was found recently at the bottom of the sea off Malvan port in Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra. There is no clarification about the fate of the fishermen, and reports say that the Indian Navy has abandoned the search operation for the fishermen after recovering the wreckage.

Through the notice, Karnataka government has been asked to take steps to mitigate problems faced by the fishermen families due to the disappearance of the fishermen. The union defence secretary has been asked to provide latest report on search operation for the missing fishermen. Both the central and state governments have been instructed to file their reports within a week.

The commission notes that the disappearance of the fishermen without a trace at sea is a matter of grave concern and the fishermen families are distressed by the way the government officials and institutions conducted themselves relating to the tragedy.   The families of fishermen expect the government to find out the missing fishermen but the government, going by the newspaper reports, does not seem to have taken suitable steps to find out the whereabouts of the fishermen, NHRC has noted.

Boat owner, Chandrashekhar Kotian, fishermen, Damodar, Laxman,Satish, Ravi, Harish and Ramesh had gone missing along with the boat. In the midst of allegation of I N S Kochi of the Indian Navy having collided with the boat on the fateful day, former minister, Pramod Madhwaraj, had written to the President and Prime Minister seeking judicial probe into the incident.