CHENNAI: A victim of Vardha cyclone has approached the Madras high court to direct the state government to implement the announcement of the Chief Minister and pay the agreed amount of '4 lakh to families of the deceased fishermen, who died in Vardha cyclone.
The First Bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose before whom the petition filed by R.Pradeep Kumar, son of the deceased Raviselvam, came up for hearing ordered notice to the state government.
According to petitioner, all the 9 fishermen including his father entered into the Bay of Bengal for fishing on December 3, 2016, through Gill Net speed boat.
On December 12, 2016, his father who was working as driver in the said boat had contacted the boat owner Jayaraman and informed him that they were at present Mylapore light house east point 18. Since the wind was violent, the boat owner tried to contact his father and others. But he could not get in touch with them.
The boat owner had taken effective steps to trace them but could not find them and he informed the police about the missing boat and fishermen.
He also lodged a complaint and a case of Man and Boat missing was registered.
While so, the dead body of his father Raviselvam and other two fishermen Nirmal Raj and Vinoth were washed ashore in Nagapattinam.
The remaining 6 fishermen were not found and therefore declared as missing. The state government paid '1 lakh from out of the TN Chief Minister Relief Fund to each of the families of 9 fishermen.
For the natural calamity, the Chief Minister had on December 13, 2016, announced that a sum of '4 lakh each from the disaster management fund would be paid to those fishermen who lost their lives.
But the amount was not yet paid to the families of the deceased fishermen, he added.
