Five-hundred and sixty fishermen and over 1,200 fishing boats from Gujarat are currently in Pakistan’s custody, the state government told the state legislature on Tuesday.
“Our fishermen sometimes cross the international maritime boundary and sometimes Pakistan kidnaps them from the border…About 1,200 fishing boats have been seized by Pakistan,” Raghavji Patel, cabinet minister for fisheries said in reply to a question asked by MLA Arjun Modhwadiya during Question Hour. Of the 560 fishermen, 274 have been caught in the last two years (2021 and 2022).
“To get them released, we have made representations to Government of India. I have personally met the Union Fisheries Minister Parshottam Rupala and I have also written to the GoI. The state government is making adequate efforts for release of the captured fishermen and their boats,” he said in his reply. Patel told the House that the state government has been giving Rs 20,000 as assistance to fishing boat owners to install GPS devices on their boats.
Modhwadiya pointed out that lack of consular access delays the release of Gujarat’s fishermen lodged in Pakistan. The Congress MLA also asked if the state government has requested the Centre to revive an old scheme where assistance was paid to fishermen to rebuild boats. “We have requested the Government of India to revive this scheme,” the minister said in reply.
In the last two years, 55 fishermen from Gujarat, lodged in Pakistani jails, have been released, the state government told the state legislature on Tuesday. In 2021, 20 fishermen from Gujarat were released by Pakistan, while 35 more fishermen were released in 2022, the minister added in his reply. Patel said the state government provides Rs 4 lakh as compensation to the families of those fishermen who died in Pakistani jails. This compensation is provided from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. The minister also said that the state government gives a daily compensation of Rs 300 to the families of fishermen caught by Pakistan. In 2021, a total of 323 families got this compensation, while in 2022, 428 families received this compensation.