It was the first day of her M.Com course and when 20-year-old Meghana Karkera returned home, a tragedy awaited her. Jagannat Karkera, her father, was missing after a boat capsized near the bar mouth.
“My father had seen me off when I left for college. We are yet to hear about him,” Ms. Meghana said at their home in Bengre. She sits next to her mother Vedavati and elder sister Swati Karkera, who keep their heads down with grief as they know that the prospects of Mr. Karkera’s survival are bleak.
TurbulenceMr. Karkera (48) left along with two others in a gilnet boat from Bengre around 2 p.m. on August 11, a day after the fishing holiday ended. His nephew Prashant Mendon said his uncle was aware of the fact that the boat might topple in the turbulence near the bar-mouth, following accumulation of silt there. “He had to go as it is a question of their survival.”
Mr. Karkera had been a good swimmer and he had been fishing for nearly four decades, Mr. Mendon added.
“He might have sustained injuries after falling from the boat and might not have been able to swim,” said Mr. Karkera’s niece Sunita Salian.
Swimming“We should have found him within 24 hours. We have lost hopes of his survival,” Ms. Salian said. She wants the State government to extend cooperation and involve the Coast Guard in the search operation. Members of Mr. Karkera’s family and fishermen in the locality have been searching for him using their boats in the area spanning from Surathkal in Karnataka to Kumble in Kerala.
Earning livelihoodWith the main breadwinner missing, the burden to earn for the family has fallen on Mr. Karkera’s wife, Vedavati, who works as a domestic help.
“We do not have much as savings,” said Ms. Salian.
“We [fishermen] have been neglected. None of the elected representatives have bothered to visit us and see our condition, ” she added.
Ms. Salian said the government had not been serious about dredging at the bar mouth. “We are paying the price,” she added.
