Family of missing fisherman in Vizhinjam terms CM's remarks on coastal folk 'hurtful', demands apology

The children of the missing fisherman John Mathias on Monday termed as "hurtful" Chief Minister V D Satheesan's remarks, which according to them had the effect of collectively alienating the fishermen community. The search for John has entered its 11th day.

When he was asked during the post-Cabinet briefing on August 5 why even the fisheries minister had not visited the families of missing fishermen, the CM said: "All of you know what happens in the coast... Don't you recall what happened to the former Chief Minister." This was a reference to furious fishermen shouting at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan when he visited the coast after the devastation of Cyclone Ockhi in 2017.

John's children expressed their bitterness before home minister Ramesh Chennithala, fisheries minister V E Abdul Gafoor and Kovalam MLA M Vincent. The ministerial delegation was visiting John's house in Vizhinjam.

"Fishermen are ready any moment to go out on a rescue mission. They don't do it for salary or any other gains. They do this as a service. That is why fishermen's help is sought during the floods. But what they get in return are disparaging comments," John's daughter Giji told the ministers.

Her brother Jinin tried to soften the outrage. "We are not taking it seriously. We make our demands before our government. There is only our government for us to ask. No one should wrongly interpret our remarks," Jinin said, speaking for his community. "It might be a trivial thing that is said but it can give the wrong impression that an entire community is like that," he added.

Giji quickly butted in. "The Chief Minister's comments were like that. K Muraleedharan, too, had sounded insensitive (The health minister had initially said that rescue would be difficult in rough weather)," Giji said.

She said that while talking to her over the phone, the Chief Minister repeated the very remark he made at the press conference. "You know what happens when we inlanders come to the coast, he told me over phone. This is hurtful. He represents us. He should realise the importance of his chair," she said.

Giji said that she was still stuck by her earlier stand that the Chief Minister should apologise. "Should he not," she asked reporters in front of her house. "Such comments should not come from a person occupying such a high position. It certainly is an insult to an entire community. He should be careful while making such comments. Next time when he makes a comment it should not be made in a manner that is insulting or dismissive of a group of people," Giji said.

She said that the family had not demanded that ministers should visit the house of missing fishermen. "We have never said that anyone should come here and console the families. The focus should be on how to improve the rescue operation, identifying the lapses and finding ways to solve them," she said.

John's son listed three major shortcomings before the ministerial team led by Home Minister Chennithala. One, he said the warnings were late. He said his "papa" went to the sea at around 1 pm but the warning came only at 2 pm, and the siren went off even later, only at 4 pm. "By then papa and others were already in the sea. There is no way to reach them," Jijin said

Fisheries minister Gafoor then told his colleagues and the family that a mobile warning system that could provide updates on the mobile was nearly ready. MLA M Vincent was heard proposing the implant of chips that could alert authorities of an accident in the deep sea. Gafoor said the mobile mechanism his department had devised could also provide the location and establish two-way communication.

Two, Jinin said that there was no localised weather forecasting system. "The information we now receive is not accurate either. For instance, three days before the incident it was said that there will be winds blowing at 40 km per hour. But it was calm that day. For fishermen, going to the sea is the only way to get money for his daily needs. If they had remained at home they would have felt a sense of regret for having heeded a false warning," he said.

"It is only natural that they distrust the warning," Vincent offered. "The warning has to be accurate and localised," Jinin said. "Just because there would be heavy winds in another district, to ask fishermen in this district not to go out is to deny their livelihood," he said.

Third, he said that nearly a decade after Ockhi, a standard operating procedure (SoP) for fishermen rescue had not been drawn up. Gafoor assured that an SoP would be released in a fortnight.