NATION | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Fishermen feel pinch of increased coastal security
Rathin Das | Ahmedabad
Though last year’s 26/11 terror attacks are generally known with the prefix of Mumbai, very few now remember that the first victims of the sinister plot were fishermen from Porbandar in western coast of Gujarat.
Three fishermen from Porbandar were killed and thrown into the sea by terrorists who had hijacked the fishing boat Kuber for their journey towards Mumbai. After reaching the Mumbai coastline, the terrorists had killed the boat’s captain too.
A year after the attack, it is again the fishermen of the coastal area who are feeling the pinch of the highly beefed-up security measures.
Sources in Porbandar, from where the fishing boat Kuber had started its ill-fated journey, told The Pioneer that security of every nature has been tightened up. Patrolling and checking by all security agencies along the coastline have increased so much that the fishermen now feel harassed.
“Security scenario has improved, but there is not much change in the lives of fishermen,” lamented Manish Lodhari, general secretary of the National Fish Workers Forum, Gujarat unit.
“Earlier, only the Customs people used to check us on return from fishing jaunts, but now we are intercepted by every agency like Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Police,” he told The Pioneer from Porbandar.
The identity cards issued by the Customs department were sufficient to prove the fishermen’s credentials earlier. “But, now the security forces want to check all the documents and also to keep tab on the number of people on board the boat,” said the fishermen's union leader.
But the agencies involved in ensuring coastal security in view of the enhanced threat scenario maintain that a routine check on various ‘irregularities’ by the fishermen is necessary to prevent intrusion of terrorists in the garb of fishermen.
“Some tough checking has to be gone through if a foolproof system of security is to be maintained", a senior Coast Guard source told The Pioneer on condition of anonymity.
“We have instructions not to harass genuine fishermen, but they should also cooperate by keeping proper documents and credentials of all, on board,” said the Coast Guard official.
The fishermen intercepted in the mid-sea by the Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Police are often found to carry only photocopy of the documents regarding the boat's origin, ownership and nationality, said a source in the security agencies.
Several times there are discrepancies in the number of fishermen who sailed out and those who returned, pointed out the official underlying the dangers of infiltrations through the fishing route.
There are also instances of the long route and delayed sojourn, as claimed by the boatmen being not justified by their “ration and fuel limitations”, he said, adding that security agencies need to know where had they been for so long.
Notwithstanding the fishermen’s feeling of being victimised by too much of security, and the forces’ denial of harassment, the fact remains that the sordid incident at Mumbai last year has indeed witnessed a tightening of security measures all along the 1,600 km coastline in Gujarat.
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