Extend subsidy to help fishermen fix transponders in boats: HC

Chennai: The Madras High Court on Tuesday observed that the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government should extend maximum subsidy to fishermen in the state to fix transponders in boats so that it can prevent them from violating international maritime borders.

A division bench of justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad made the observation while hearing a PIL petition moved by Fishermen Care, a fishermen rights organisation, seeking a direction to the Centre to refer all cases of violation of human rights of Indian fishermen by Sri Lanka to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

The bench observed that considering the cost of the transponders and the continuous problems which the fishermen face all along, the government should come forward to provide financial assistance to the fishermen by extending the subsidy to the maximum. 

As directed by the court earlier, an officer from ISRO appeared and explained about the functioning of transponders. 

It was explained that to fix one transponder the cost would be around Rs 40,000, following which the court made the observation. 

Earlier, the court had directed the officials concerned to furnish details which could help fishermen from crossing the international maritime borders. 

The court was informed that by fixing transponders in the fishing boats it will be easy for fishermen to know where they are. 

Dony Michael, Deputy Inspector General of Indian Coast Guard, filed a report before the court. 

In his report, he said non-mechanised or country crafts were not fitted with any communication or navigational equipment. 

The non-mechanised boats (country crafts) were not registered with the fisheries department and it did not have any data on these crafts.