Udupi: A delegation from Udupi, led by Udupi-Chikkamgaluru MP Shobha Karandalaje and Udupi MLA Raghupathy Bhat met Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and union fisheries and animal husbandry minister Giriraj Singh, in New Delhi recently. The delegation requested the minister to ensure maximum compensation to disbursed to the family members of the fishermen who were on board of the wrecked Suvarna Tribhuja boat, that went missing under mysterious circumstances. Several other demands of the fishing community from the coastal belt of Karnataka was kept before the two ministers, who responded positively to the demands.
The fishing vessel, with seven fishermen on board, went into the deep sea from Malpe harbour in Udupi district on December 13, 2018 and lost contact with the other fishing boats and harbour two days later. Four months after its mysterious disappearance, the Indian Navy vessel found its wreckage close to Malwan in Maharashtra, but there have been no traces of the seven crew members.
The delegation led by Shobha Karandlaje and K Raghupathy Bhat comprised of Veljibhai K Masani, President of All India Fishermen Forum, Yashpal Suvarna President of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District Cooperative Fish Marketing Federation, Sathish Kundar Immediate Past President of Malpe Fishermen’s Association, Malpe, local fishermen leaders like Anand C Kundar, Sadhu Salian, Dayananda Suvarna and others were present.