Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], July 14 (ANI): YSRCP President and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday hit out at the Chandrababu Naidu-led coalition government, calling the fishing boat tragedy in Visakhapatnam an “inhumane incident” caused by administrative negligence.
The former Chief Minister visited the families of the fishermen who went missing and were later feared dead following the tragedy, expressing his condolences and slamming the state’s delayed rescue efforts.
Speaking to the media after meeting the victims’ families, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said, “The incident which took place in Andhra Pradesh is the most inhumane incident. An incident took place in which six fishermen families lost their lives. While they were in the sea, in spite of repeated messages which were put forth to the officials of the government, there was no response. And due to this fact, because these people took so many hours to even look into the matter, forget about responding.”
He further highlighted the proximity of the incident to major naval and administrative hubs, questioning why the rescue machinery failed to move.
“The incident took place just 10 miles away from Visakhapatnam, from Gangavaram port. In Vizag, we have the Coast Guard, Navy, Collector, the Commissioner–the entire government is here. Yet, in fact, Vizag is also the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command. In spite of that, because the government did not respond on time, this delayed response took the lives of six families of fishermen,” he said.
Reddy also criticised the ruling coalition for a lack of empathy, noting that no government representative had reached out to the grieving families.
“The government did not respond. In fact, even the next day, the government did not respond. And finally, it ended up with six people who passed away because of a lack of response from the government. The worst part is that not a single minister came to their house to even console them. This is even more devastating and inhumanitarian,” the YSRCP chief added.
Concluding his address, the former CM demanded accountability and immediate relief for the kin of the deceased.
“All this put together, we demand Chandrababu’s government to respond, to take blame, to apologise, and to give compensation for what has been demanded,” he stated.
The fishermen had ventured into the sea from Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour on July 1 at around 3 am aboard a mechanised fishing boat. Of the seven missing fishermen, six are from Mukkam village in Bhogapuram Mandal of Vizianagaram district, while one is from Peda Nagamayya Palem in Bheemili Mandal of Visakhapatnam district. (ANI)
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