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Coast Guard - Saviours of lives at sea
Report: Vijay Grover Programme Special Correspondent Telecast: Saturday (Aug 30) at 9:30 pm; Thursday (Sept 4) at 4:30 pm
Report: Vijay Grover
Programme Special Correspondent
Telecast: Saturday (Aug 30) at 9:30 pm; Thursday (Sept 4) at 4:30 pm
Though numbering almost one crore along the 6000 km coastline of the country, the lives of ten lakh Indian Tamil fishermen is fraught with perils and misadventures. Largely ignored by the media, the unfortunate plight of the fisherman came into the spotlight when Sri Lanka notched a total of over 37 captives this year alone, till July, of Indian fishermen straying into foreign waters.
However, the scenario is not bereft of hope. The Coast Guard has for long, been trying to enlighten the fishing community on the wonders of telecommunication technology and other safety measures, but with little success.
On August 9, 2003, a timely development enabled a first hand account of a real life search and rescue mission. Two fishing boats were reported missing, off the Nagapattnam coast when they failed to return, two days after setting sail.
Varaha, an offshore patrol vessel of the Coast Guard Eastern Command was dispatched on the rescue mission off Karaihal, and before long, a true-to-life drama began to unfold of death-defying acts of bravery to save human lives at sea.
Providing additional support to the rescue vessel were a sortie of a Dornier aircraft and reconnaissance missions by Coast Guard helicopter ‘Chetak’ on board the ship.
Looking back on the expedition, Commander SK Raghuvanshi, the Commanding Officer of Varaha summed up the feelings on his men on the mission. In his words, “... the satisfaction that we get when we save a life. It is the blessings that we get ...” on missions like these that inspire them to risk their own lives to save others. It took a twenty four hour search to locate the four men adrift on the first of the two ill-fated boats. The problem was identified as engine failure.
In the second operation, Varaha went to the rescue of a small fibre boat which had gone astray with four people on board. The dehydrated crew included a fisherman on his maiden sea journey who had lapsed into unconsciousness. The rescue team immediately went about administering the necessary drips and medical treatment made possible by the mini operation theatre on board the ship.
According to Lt. Surgeon Arvind Naik, such occurrences are the norm due to the shortage of food and water that ensues when a boat goes adrift. This makes the role of the rescue mission all the more crucial.
Being witness to the entire rescue operation spanning nearly 40 hours on board the Varaha proved to be an eye-opener in terms of the dangers, both hidden and visible that threatens the fishing community. The problem for the rescue crew, on the other hand, is compounded by the fishermen themselves. “These fishermen crawl into the sea from the age of one, and think they know the sea like the back of their hand, but they under estimate the fury of the sea,” explains Commodore RS Vasan COMCG (East). Repeated pleas to invest in basic telecommunication equipment, even if only an FM radio or a mobile phone, continue to fall on deaf ears.
However, hope springs from other quarters. Alarmed by increasing losses of lives at sea, the state governments of the coastal areas have woken up to the dangers. The Tamil Nadu Government is considering provision of life jackets for fishermen, while the Andhra Pradesh Government is in the process of setting up a shore-based FM network for warnings on weather changes.
Inspite of these initiatives, the fishing community largely dependent on catamarans, seeks a more substantial solution to change their lifestyle. Instead of token help, they want government aid in getting rid of the middlemen who profit most from their hard labour. With an average catamaran netting a day’s toil of about Rs. 300 to 500, which is split among 3 or 4 crew members, it is the middlemen who profits with an equal amount.
But the winds of change are sweeping into the horizon. Cooperatives and self help groups are sprouting up in fishing hamlets to provide financial aid during the lean seasons. However, there is much to be desired as revealed by R Kala, a pioneer of women’s fishing cooperatives in Chennai. The amount is still insufficient to purchase mechanised boats for deep sea fishing.
The tragedy of the situation is made all the more stark when one considers that deep sea trawlers from South Asian nations are making a fortune in the international waters of the Indian Ocean, while the Indian fishermen struggle on a daily basis, just to make ends meet.
Programme Special Correspondent
Telecast: Saturday (Aug 30) at 9:30 pm; Thursday (Sept 4) at 4:30 pm
Though numbering almost one crore along the 6000 km coastline of the country, the lives of ten lakh Indian Tamil fishermen is fraught with perils and misadventures. Largely ignored by the media, the unfortunate plight of the fisherman came into the spotlight when Sri Lanka notched a total of over 37 captives this year alone, till July, of Indian fishermen straying into foreign waters.
However, the scenario is not bereft of hope. The Coast Guard has for long, been trying to enlighten the fishing community on the wonders of telecommunication technology and other safety measures, but with little success.
On August 9, 2003, a timely development enabled a first hand account of a real life search and rescue mission. Two fishing boats were reported missing, off the Nagapattnam coast when they failed to return, two days after setting sail.
Varaha, an offshore patrol vessel of the Coast Guard Eastern Command was dispatched on the rescue mission off Karaihal, and before long, a true-to-life drama began to unfold of death-defying acts of bravery to save human lives at sea.
Providing additional support to the rescue vessel were a sortie of a Dornier aircraft and reconnaissance missions by Coast Guard helicopter ‘Chetak’ on board the ship.
Looking back on the expedition, Commander SK Raghuvanshi, the Commanding Officer of Varaha summed up the feelings on his men on the mission. In his words, “... the satisfaction that we get when we save a life. It is the blessings that we get ...” on missions like these that inspire them to risk their own lives to save others. It took a twenty four hour search to locate the four men adrift on the first of the two ill-fated boats. The problem was identified as engine failure.
In the second operation, Varaha went to the rescue of a small fibre boat which had gone astray with four people on board. The dehydrated crew included a fisherman on his maiden sea journey who had lapsed into unconsciousness. The rescue team immediately went about administering the necessary drips and medical treatment made possible by the mini operation theatre on board the ship.
According to Lt. Surgeon Arvind Naik, such occurrences are the norm due to the shortage of food and water that ensues when a boat goes adrift. This makes the role of the rescue mission all the more crucial.
Being witness to the entire rescue operation spanning nearly 40 hours on board the Varaha proved to be an eye-opener in terms of the dangers, both hidden and visible that threatens the fishing community. The problem for the rescue crew, on the other hand, is compounded by the fishermen themselves. “These fishermen crawl into the sea from the age of one, and think they know the sea like the back of their hand, but they under estimate the fury of the sea,” explains Commodore RS Vasan COMCG (East). Repeated pleas to invest in basic telecommunication equipment, even if only an FM radio or a mobile phone, continue to fall on deaf ears.
However, hope springs from other quarters. Alarmed by increasing losses of lives at sea, the state governments of the coastal areas have woken up to the dangers. The Tamil Nadu Government is considering provision of life jackets for fishermen, while the Andhra Pradesh Government is in the process of setting up a shore-based FM network for warnings on weather changes.
Inspite of these initiatives, the fishing community largely dependent on catamarans, seeks a more substantial solution to change their lifestyle. Instead of token help, they want government aid in getting rid of the middlemen who profit most from their hard labour. With an average catamaran netting a day’s toil of about Rs. 300 to 500, which is split among 3 or 4 crew members, it is the middlemen who profits with an equal amount.
But the winds of change are sweeping into the horizon. Cooperatives and self help groups are sprouting up in fishing hamlets to provide financial aid during the lean seasons. However, there is much to be desired as revealed by R Kala, a pioneer of women’s fishing cooperatives in Chennai. The amount is still insufficient to purchase mechanised boats for deep sea fishing.
The tragedy of the situation is made all the more stark when one considers that deep sea trawlers from South Asian nations are making a fortune in the international waters of the Indian Ocean, while the Indian fishermen struggle on a daily basis, just to make ends meet.