An Indian fisherman who was stranded in the Arabian Sea is escorted down from an Indian Navy helicopter after being rescued in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (Photo: AP)

Nagercoil|Chennai: Even as the warships of Indian Navy are combing the choppy seas down south for bodies and signs of struggling survivors of Cyclone Ochki that wreaked havoc in the region, the wailing families in Kanyakumari’s coastal villages claimed that over 1,000 of their kin were still missing at sea and complained bitterly that the state administration did little or nothing to help. “We have been getting help from the Kerala government”, said an elder leader in a hamlet close to Colachel.

At another nearby hamlet Chinnathurai, several hundred families sat out in the streets through Saturday, some shouting slogans and most others quietly sobbing.

They went home late evening after fisheries minister D. Jayakumar, who rushed to the battered Kanyakumari for firsthand information, promised to step up help.

“We had agitation in Chinnathurai hamlet from morning to evening, where 18 fishermen are reported as missing at sea. More than 100 have gone missing in nearby villages and more than 1000 in this Kanyakumari district. Yet our government does not seem to worry and Minister Jayakumar says only 737 are missing”, said Fr Churchil, general secretary, South Asian Fishermen Fraternity, who has been handling the humanitarian efforts for helping the fishers.

Twenty-seven-year-old Sahaya Nandini is among the wailing women gathered at the Colachel demonstration. With her youngest child in arms and two little kids hugging her in confusion, she sobbed, “My husband Justin Babu fell off the boat barely 16 miles from the coast and was gone. His boat of 14 men had struggled for more than five hours in the rough sea and despite sending out distress signals on wireless, no help came. Finally, a boat from Kerala government spotted the boat and rescued the 13 men”.

Fr Churchil said the weather department sounded the cyclone alarm only on November 29 evening but by then, thousands of fishermen of Kanyakumari district were already out at sea in hundreds of mechanized boats.

“Our fishermen set out for deep sea fishing lasting 10-30 days and they need weather alerts in proper time, whereas our weather department only gives us a day’s notice, even less”, said the activist priest.

He said “at least” 25 fishermen die at sea every year for want of advance weather alerts. Also, the vessels and the fishermen are not insured because the insurance companies make the premiums “most burdensome arguing we are in high risk vocation”. Besides, the banks do not offer credit for the boats forcing the fishermen to turn to private lenders.

Apart from whatever the immediate relief that the government would now provide, there should be long term plans to help the fishermen, said Fr Churchil.

“Our fishermen earn huge foreign exchange for the government, which does not invest a paisa on them. Instead they collect road tax and green tax on the diesel for the boats. Are there roads and streetlights in the sea and do our vessels pollute the green environment out there?”