Hundreds of disgruntled fish workers and their family members blocked the national highway on Saturday demanding the government agencies to take additional steps to find the fishermen who are still missing in the sea. Traffic along Karamana-Kaliyikkavila stretch came to a standstill for over five hours following the protest. The agitation was called off after the state government assured them that more fishermen would be taken aboard the vessels going for search and rescue operations from Sunday onwards. Fishermen in Paruthiyoor and Pozhiyoor coastal villages had been alleging apathy on the part of authorities in carrying out search and rescue operations to trace fishermen from the area. Latin diocese vicar general Fr Eugine Pereira said a few native fish workerswho were not satisfied with the search and rescue activities of the government ventured into the sea on Thursday. They went up to 172 nautical miles off the coast and spotted wreckages of several country boats and a couple of bodies. “After returning to the sea, they had been demanding more search and rescue operations, but there was no response from the part of the government. That is why they were forced to block the highway,” said the vicar.The protest under the banner of Kerala Regional Latin Catholic Council started at 10am and lasted until 3.30pm. The protesters agreed to withdraw the siege after tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran called on Latin Arch Bishop Soosai Pakiyam at Bishop’s house for discussion and promised to agree with the protesters’ demand that 15 fishermen from Pozhiyoor, Paruthiyoor fishing hamlets should be taken in ships to deep sea for intensified search and rescue operations on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Latin Catholic Council decided to intensify the protest and take the same to other parts of the state if the authorities failed to address the demands raised by fish workers and their family. The council has also announced a Raj Bhavan march on Monday, demanding more concrete efforts on the part of the Union government to mitigate the perils brought by the cyclone.Arch Bishop Soosa Pakiyam expressed dissatisfaction over the search and rescue operations and said the protest by fish workers on the street was a natural outpour of their angst. However, Surendran, who later spoke to the media, said the agitations were not backed by the church or by the fish workers them selves.
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