Satish Kundar, President of Malpe Fishermen’s Association, said on Saturday that the government should form a committee comprising representatives of Navy, Coast Guard, civil police and fishermen, to investigate the matter of the fishing boat from Malpe, ‘Suvarna Tribhuja’ with seven fishermen on board, which went missing off Goa coast on December 15, 2018.
He told presspersons here that the committee should be able to unravel the mystery of the missing boat. The matter of searching the fishing boat should no longer be left to the Navy alone.
He said a few weeks ago, the authorities had said that a naval ship, INS Kochi, which was passing through the same area as ‘Suvarna Tribhuja,’ was hit by something at its lower portion on December 15, 2018.
But a few days ago, the authorities said that after intense search operations, they had found a rock on the sea bed there (and not a sunk boat). But the authorities had still not answered what had hit INS Kochi on that day.
The Association suspected that there was some kind of cover-up on the matter. “It is our strong suspicion that ‘Suvarna Tribhuja’ might have sunk after being hit by INS Kochi,” he said.
Jurisdiction
A delegation of the Association had met Superintendent of Police, Laxman B. Nimbargi on this issue. But Mr. Nimbargi had informed them that the matter came under the jurisdiction of the Navy. Hence the Association had decided to pursue the matter with the Defence Ministry through the State government.
If this effort to trace the missing fishing boat through the committee failed, the Association might decide to gherao the naval ship INS Kadamba in Karwar. The Association was also planning to stage a dharna in front of Chief Minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy’s residence, Mr. Kundar said.
