The Maharashtra Fishermen Association chairman Damodar Tandel has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking action against state fisheries department officials--commissioner and other top officers including the state chief secretary for unable to take action against offenders carrying out illegal fishing activity during the Covid-19 lockdown in Ratnagiri district.
The two bench Justices R.D. Dhanuka and Madhav Jamdar through video conferencing held a hearing on September 10, wherein the state government requested for three week's time for filing affidavit in reply. The court granted the time and made clear that no further extension of time would be given.
The petitioner has contended that despite filing several complaints since April 2020 and serving a notice under section 60(b) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to the fisheries department officials till date he has not received any relief, nor managed to get any inquiry or action initiated against the offenders who were doing illegal fishing using "purse seine" net that is used to capture large amount of fishes--prohibited for time being, besides using banned LED lights for fishing operation in Ratnagiri district.
He further contended that despite having stringent curfews and restrictions imposed due the Covid-19 lockdown, hundreds of boats without authorised licenses were found to be operating. More alarmingly, the boats were packed with large numbers of crew, thereby flouting curfew orders and social distancing norms.
Furthermore the petitioner accused that due to the negligence, ignorance, and selfishness of the said authorities COVID-19 situation in Ratnagiri has worsened beyond control. In April, at the time around the beginning of the lockdown when the Petitioner filed his initial complaint against the perpetrators, the active coronavirus cases in Ratnagiri was negligible. However, due to these various illegal activities of the fishermen the Covid-19 active count in Ratnagiri is almost 3,500 with over 100 deaths took place. These numbers may undoubtedly be attributed to the carelessness of concerned officials and illegal fishing activities, thereby knowingly or inadvertently spreading the virus mentioned in the petition.
