The kin of three fishermen, killed by 10 Pakistani terrorists in the 2611 terror attack, are still waiting in Navsari for the Gujarat government to declare them dead so that they can get a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each.The families of Balwant Tandel, Mukesh Rathod and Natvar Natu made a fresh application to the Gujarat government on November 26. As per government rules, only if a person goes missing and his body is not found for seven years, can he be declared dead and be eligible for compensation.
After the attack, the Gujarat government had offered to pay government had offered to pay Rs 2 crore to the families of Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamat and Vijay Salaskar, who were killed in the attack. The Karkare family had rejected the offer.“The Gujarat government was ready to pay Maharashtrian officers so much, but not families of their constituency . Why?“ said advocate, Kano Sukhadiya, who is helping the fishermen’s families. Balwant, Mukesh and Nat var, and captain Amar Solanki were in the Kuber trawler, which was captured by the terrorists near Jakhau, on the border of India and Pakistan. They were killed and their bodies were thrown into the sea. The terrorists took the help of Solanki to reach Mumbai but a few nautical miles before, they killed him, and proceeded in a dingy to Budhwar Park in Colaba, to carry out the attack, killing 166 people and injuring more than 700.
Solanki’s body was found and the government compensa ted his family with Rs 25 lakh.The three other bodies could not be traced, so they were declared missing. “On November 26, we applied through our sarpanch, Vijay Tandel, to district collector Remya Mohan to hand over the death certificates. The compensation will help our families. My husband had gone to catch fish but he was killed by terrorists. It’s the government’s responsibility ,“ said Damiyanti Tandel. Mohan told Sukhadiya he had forwarded the application to the Central government.
Luckyben Rathod (80), the grandmother of Mukesh, said, “He was the sole bread-earner of the family . He was to marry soon after his return.“
“The local MLA, R C Patel, gave us Rs50,000. No government official visited us even though the media has been highlighting our plight,“ said Dharmishta, widow of Natwar.
Umesh Tandel, Balwant’s son, said, “I became a fisherman two years ago, while my sisters and my mother do embroidery work at home. But a person from Surat takes a commission.“
Kuber capt’s family migrates to UK
Dilip Solanki, the son of captain Amar Solanki, of the trawler Kuber, shifted to London along with his family after serving the Daman police for nearly three years as sub-inspector. “Dilip resigned as he wanted to make more money, and moved to the UK,“ said Vijay Patel, an inspector from Diu. Friends said he was happy doing odd jobs there.–Ahmed Ali
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