Fishing Boat Owners Seek PM’s Intervention In Vizag Tragedy

Association president Vasupalli Janakiram announced that a complaint has been submitted to prime minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh, alleging that the state government failed in its response and urging the Centre to order a high-level independent inquiry.
Janakiram said a complaint has also been lodged with the national human rights commission, accusing the state government of failing to uphold the fishermen’s right to life.
He explained that despite informing the district collector, the marine police, and the fisheries department officials about the accident around 10:30pm on July 4, no effective search operations were launched until the following morning.
Survivor Kari Chinna’s account, he said, confirmed that the fishermen were alive and awaiting rescue until 8 am but could not be saved due to the delay in the rescue operations.
The association condemned the conduct of minister Kolli Ravindra, who visited the affected families after the incident.
Janakiram said the minister’s actions like the handing over cheques worth ₹10 lakh and leaving the spot without listening to the families or assuring them recovery of missing bodies, were deeply distressing and an attempt to evade responsibility. He noted that the affected women personally confronted the minister, underscoring widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s response. He termed it inhumane for the administration to act as though its duty ended with cheque distribution, while failing to provide solace or answers to grieving families.

He sought an independent high-level inquiry by the central government, a probe into the roles of state departments and agencies, disclosure of a minute-to-minute timeline of rescue operations, strict action against negligent officials, continuation of full-scale search operations, compensation of `1 crore for each affected family, and immediate establishment of a modern marine emergency response system in the state.

“Our struggle will not cease until justice is served for the lives of the fishermen, action is taken against those responsible, and the affected families receive dignified compensation. We will continue this fight through legal and democratic means on every platform,” said Vasupalli Janakiram.