Gandhinagar : Generous relief package for fishermen and seafarers announced by chief minister Vijay Rupani. In the Core Committee meeting chaired by Gujarat Chief Minster Vijay Rupani, a generous relief package of Rs. 105 crore has been announced after conducting a comprehensive review, for rehabilitation of fishermen, seafarers and fishing activities from the extensive damage caused by the recent Cyclone Tauktae in the state. In the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, Energy Minister Saurabh Patel, Minister of Fisheries Jawahar Chavda, Chief Secretary Anil Mukim and Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Kailashnathan, ACS Pankaj Kumar and senior secretaries, this generous relief package has been announced by studying the various aspects of the detailed presentation made by the Secretary of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Nalin Upadhyay and the Commissioner D. P. Desai in this core committee. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani while giving details of this package said that for the purpose of rehabilitating fishermen and seafarers from the damage caused by Cyclone Tauktae, for the first time ever in Gujarat’s history, such grand package of Rs. 105 crore has been announced. In this regard, he said that the coastal areas of Saurashtra, including Jafarabad, Rajula, Syed Rajpara, Shiyalbet, Nawa Bandar and other ports were hit by Cyclone Tauktae at a speed of 220 km per hour.
As a result, fishing boats, large trawlers, boats, fishnets and in some cases the infrastructural facilities of the fishery have been severely damaged. The Chief Minister said that Gujarat has the longest coastline of 1600 km and in the coastal belt from Porbandar to Umargam, many seafarer families have been making their living by selling fishes and shrimps/prawns. Recently, Cyclone Tauktae has damaged the fishing boats, fiber boats and trawlers of seafarers as well as the houses of fishing families, boat anchorage facilities at the port and other infrastructural facilities. The Chief Minister said that during his visit to the affected areas along the coast, many seafarer families shared about heavy damage to their fishing boats, fishing nets, trawlers etc. caused by Cyclone Tauktae, which were their main sources of livelihood for fishing activities. The state government is committed to rehabilitate the affected fishermen and seafarers, for which the relief package of Rs. 105 crore has been announced. Vijay Rupani said that the state government has conducted a survey of the damage caused to agricultural crops, horticultural crops as well as houses by the cyclone and has paid 100 per cent cash doles and assistance to the affected people. Not only that, a cyclone relief package of Rs. 500 crore has been announced earlier for the purpose of providing relief to the farmers from the loss of horticultural crops, and to revive the fallen, uprooted trees.
