Rathnagiri assault: Malpe fishermen boycott fishing, take to streets

Malpe, February 22: Former President of Mogaveera Mahajana Sangha and Udupi Block Congress Committee President Pramod Madhwaraj, on Wednesday, assured the fishermen holding dharna protesting against the assault on them by the fishermen of Rathnagiri in Mumbai on Feb 19, to take a delegation to Maharashtra to demand for action against the culprits and to prevent similar incidents in future.

Hundreds of fishermen working in deep sea trawl boats, under the banner of Tandelara Sangha, on Wednesday boycotted fishing and held a dharna at Malpe port to protest against the torture on some of their cologues by the fishermen of Rathnagiri in Maharashtra.

On Feb 19, fishermen of Rathnagiri, working in persene boats named Al Naveed, Multhanian, S Abbas, Marian and Ameen had assauted the Malpe based fishermen working on board of deep sea trawl boats Jaladeeksha, Jalaraksha, Durgamaayi, Shravan, Rajadeep, Seaphone, Seafala, Sannidhi and Durg Devi, in the deep sea, 25 nautical mile from the Rathnagiri coast. They had also threatened by showing lethal weapons and looted the fishermen of their fish catch, cash, mobile phones, GPS instruments, fish finders and wireless equipments.

President of the Tandelara Sangha Shashidhar Amin in his address demanded action against the culprits in Rathnagiri and threatened to call for an indefinite deep sea fishing bandh if their lawful demands were not met. He said that the Malpe fishermen were lawfully fishing in the deep sea, 25 nautical miles away from the Rathnagiri coast, whereas the law permits fishing by outside fishermen even up to 12 nautical miles away from the local shore.

District BJP President Uday Kumar Shetty,, its former President Ravi Salian, founder President of Mogaveera Yuva Sanghatane Sathish Amin Padukare and others participated in the dharna.