Cong leaders go to coastal city: 200 boats broken, Jafrabad fishermen depend their losses

As extra roads had been restored in Amreli district on Wednesday, Paresh Dhanani, chief of Opposition, and fellow Congress MLA Ambarish Der visited Jafrabad, the coastal city close to Una, the place the extraordinarily extreme cyclone Tauktae had made landfall on intervening night time of Monday and Tuesday. While majority of fishermen had been busy setting their boats and fishing gears proper, a couple of may present the 2 Congress leaders solely wreckage of their boats.
As Danani and Der arrived, they had been led close to the bridge throughout the Jafrabad harbour. Around a dozen boats had been trapped underneath the bridge, lots of them having been overturned. Seven different boats lay on the opposite aspect the bridge after cyclone Tauktae pushed them by the bridge construction whereas making landfall, fishermen informed the guests.
Scenes had been worse behind the Kharva Samaj crematorium. Near a couple of barges, tugs and an enormous dredger lay wreckage of few fishing trawlers. “This engine is the only trace of my fishing boat. For me, everything is destroyed. Hanging myself is the only option for me now,” Ismile Napali (58) informed Dhanani because the latter inspected wreckage of the fishing boat Al Faiz.
Dhanani comforted the fisherman: “Don’t be disheartened. Together, we will do something. We will fight for some relief.”
“I had borrowed Rs2 lakh to repair my boat. But now the boat is gone and with it, the source of our livelihood. These barges, tugs and dredgers broke my boat into three,” Napali later informed The Indian Express.
Kanaiyala Solanki, president of Kharva Samaj Macchimar Boat Association mentioned of round 700 fishing boats, 200 have been broken whereas eight to 10 had been untraceable. “Of the 200 boats, 150 are total loss while 50 are repairable. The loss to fishermen of Jafrabad is around Rs300 crore,” Solanki mentioned, including at the very least three fishermen died in the course of the storm.
Bhavesh Baraiya (30) and his elder brother Mahesh had been livid whereas pointing to a tug blocking entry to their wrecked fishing trawler Jamnaprasad.
“These barges, tugs and dredgers were anchored in the mouth of the harbour. But they shouldn’t have been there given trouble was expected due to the cyclone,” mentioned Mahesh.

Solanki mentioned that fishermen from Shiyal Bet had been the worst affected. “The Lal Batti part of the harbour where they anchor their boats faces the open sea and are therefore exposed to violent winds and tidal waves. Of their 150 boats, around 100 have been damaged,” mentioned Solanki, including, “It will take up to 10 years for Jafrabad fishermen to recover.”
Meanwhile, dozens of fishermen got here to Solanki complaining theft of apparatus. “People who are not fishermen are stealing batteries, inverters etc from unattended boats. We will file police complaint about this,” mentioned Solanki, whereas telling the fishermen that the Prime Minister had made aerial survey of Jafrabad and that he expects authorities to compensate fishermen. While Dhanani characterize Amreli constituency, Der is sitting MLA from Rajula which contains Jafrabad.

“Jafrabad is known by Bombay Duck fish which is eaten after sun-drying. Every august, our catch is damaged by rain while being sun-dried. Government never pays us any compensation though agriculturalists get compensated against crop loss. We are also sagakhedu, farmers who earn their living by fishing. If the government doesn’t compensate our losses incurred on account of the cyclone, we shall stop participating in election,” Bhavesh additional mentioned.
Meanwhile, residents mentioned Jafrabad municipality has not distributed water over the previous three days. “Thankfully, there is potable water in a well on agricultural field of Kana Ata and a diesel pump to pump water out of that well,” mentioned Fazal Kadri, a fisherman who has been volunteering to produce water to residents of Jafrabad.