THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday called upon the state and central governments to initiate urgent steps to ensure the safety of the fishermen and fishing boats venturing out to the sea for fishing.In a statement issued here, Pinarayi Vijayan said the latest incident involving the fishing boat off the coast of Alappuzha was a pointer towards the plight of the fishermen. It was also the fishermen who ventured into the sea for fishing who were killed in the firing from an Italian merchant ship.He pointed out that even before recovering from the shock of the killing of fishermen in the firing from the Italian ship, the latest incident has caused much resentment and consternation among the fishermen as well as general public.The latest incident in which the ship hit the fishing boat had occurred 13 nautical miles off the coast of Alappuzha. From this, it is clear that the ship had violated rules.He said the Indian Navy and the State and Central governments should take urgent steps to bring those violating laws to justice. The Union External Affairs Ministry and Union Defence Ministry should also intervene in the matter. He said that neither the Navy nor the Coast Guard had taken timely action to extend help to the fishermen who were injured in the incident.He said that the fact that fisherman Justin who was the first to intimate the firing incident to the police was one of the fishermen killed in Thursday’s incident had added to the gravity of the issue. He said government should come forward to compensate the victims of the accident sufficiently.Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan said the latest incident involved the boat of Justin who was the first to intimate the police about the firing incident from the Italian ship, had added to the mystery.
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