Vadodara/Navsari : Seven years after Mumbai witnessed the 26/11 attacks, distraught families of the four fishermen onboard ‘MV Kuber’, which was hijacked by the terrorists, continue to face hardship as they await the government to declare their “missing” kin as “dead” and duly compensate them.
Ten Pakistani terrorists had hijacked MV Kuber, a fishing trawler, off Jhakau coast in Gujarat to reach Mumbai for carrying out the strike.
The family members of three fishermen belonging to Navasari district submitted a memorandum to district collector Ramya Mohan demanding that as per Gujarat government rules, missing persons are declared dead after seven years.
Gujarat Fishermen’s Association (GAF) has also sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in getting compensation for the kin of the four fishermen.
“All four of them should be declared dead and a compensation of Rs 10 lakh should be given to family members of each of them,” Navsari collector said.
The family members also demanded that death certificates should also be issued. The state government has declared the four fishermen — Ramesh Nagji Bamaniya from Junagad, and Balwant Prabhu, Mukesh Rathod and Natu Nanu, all from Navsari — as “missing”.
“The family members met me yesterday as they (four fishermen) have been declared ‘missing’ by the government, and represented that they were the only bread-winning members of their family. So, the fishermen should be now declared as ‘dead’ and proper compensation should be given to them,” Mohan told PTI.
She said the district authority has decided to send a fresh proposal to the government to consider the time factor and hardships faced by the families.
