The 12-hour long protest at Kuzhithurai Railway Station indulged in by family members and relatives of more than 1000 missing fishermen in the aftermath of ‘Cyclone Ockhi’ striking Kanniyakumari Coast last weekend ended well past midnight yesterday after an appeal made by Thoothur pastor.

The protesters sat on the railway track and on the platform raising slogans against the State Government’s inaction in tracing the missing fishermen who had taken to the seas last Friday just before Cyclone Okhi hit the Kanniyakumari and Kerala coast. The protests didn’t disperse despite repeated assurances by the District Collector that he would convey to the chief-minister the families’ grievances.

The District Collector assured the protesters that hunt/rescue operations to trace the missing fishermen would continue till all the fishermen are traced/located.  Families of fishermen wondered whether the State would compensate them adequately for losing their livelihood right for more than a week as fishermen had gone missing. They also sought maximum compensation in case the fishermen had met with some tragedy.

Some protesters even said that they would raise voices for making Kanniyukumari District a part of Kerala which always took good care of fishermen. After the District Collector’s repeated attempts to disperse the protesters failed and as the police officials wondered what could be done to evict them, the protesters finally called off their protest after the appeal of Thoothur pastor asking them to call off the strike.