The Govt. of Tamil Nadu has announced that it would provide an ex-gratia amount of Rs.10 lakhs to those fishermen who had been to the mid-seas for deep-sea fishing and were killed during last week’s tragedy-filled ‘Cyclone Ockhi’.

Thousands of relatives and friends of fishermen, who had gone missing since last Friday when the cyclone devastated the Kanniyakumari and Kerala coast, sat in a 12-hour long protest at Kuzhithurai Railway Station yesterday. The flash protest, which commenced around noon, continued well past mid-night, throwing rail traffic out of gear as people sat in huge numbers on railway-track and adjacent platforms.

It is in this backdrop that the Govt. of Tamil Nadu has issued a communiqué about grant of ex-gratia. “Families of fishermen, who had been killed by last week’s cyclone, would be provided a one-time ex-gratia sum of Rs.10 lakhs including insured sum of Rs. Lakhs. Those injured in the calamity would be provided Rs.5 lakhs to take up alternative forms of employment,” the communiqué said.

It also added that fishermen who had been admitted to various hospitals for treatment of their injuries would be paid Rs.50,000 each. Hunt to look for the more than 1000 missing fishermen would, however, continue, chief-minister Edapadi K. Palaniswami has asserted.

“1000 litres of diesel would be provided to rescue fishermen from Gujarat, Maharashtra and Lakshadweep coast while 750 litres would be granted to the rescue operations from Karnataka and Kerala. A livelihood grant of Rs.2,500 would be provided to families of all fishermen,” the chief-minister said.