Chennai: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami who reviewed the search and rescue of Tamil Nadu fishermen (Op Sahayam) with senior officials of the Indian Navy, Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has sought authorities to accelerate the operation.
His plea to officials of the joint operation followed the apprehensions expressed by the affected fishers to the Kanyakumari district administration that their men who had gone for deep sea fishing could have been stranded in Karnataka, Maharash-tra, Gujarat or in Lakshadweep and Maldives. Hence, the officials should expedite the chore to trace and rescue the stranded men, he said and placed on record that a majority of the fishermen stranded due to cyclone Ockhi have been rescued by the joint efforts of the Navy, IAF and Coast Guard in association with the state government.
City based Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre has provided the latitude and longitude details of areas where the fishermen were likely to be stranded and the information has been provided to the defence officials present in today’s meeting.
The ICG unit in Tuticorin has been asked to carry out maritime and aerial surveillance to search and rescue missing country boat fishermen from Kanyakumari.
Mr Palaniswami urged the Eastern Commands of Navy and Coast Guards to jointly carry out search and rescue operations with their southern and western counterparts, and requested them to provide food and other essentials to the rescued fishermen.
“The Chief Minister requested that the long-time demand of Kanyakumari fishermen for setting up an exclusive Coast Guard centre there with helipad facilities be implemented,” to enable quick search and rescue operations in the future,” an official release here said.
