*YSRCP slams delayed rescue, abandoned families of fisherman*

Visakhapatnam, July 11: YSRCP leaders visited the families of fishermen who went missing after leaving for fishing from Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour and consoled them at their residences near Jabbar Thota Junction on AVN College Road. Former Ministers Kurasala Kannababu and Dr Seediri Appalaraju, along with MLC Varudu Kalyani, said the coalition government acted with complete irresponsibility even one week after the July 4 boat tragedy.
Kurasala Kannababu said Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy sent them to meet the grieving families and give them courage. He said the scenes of children and wives waiting in tears for their loved ones were heart-breaking. The government reduced the search operations to a token exercise and abandoned them midway. The three-member committee report and the statements of officials do not match at all. He questioned whether the Home Minister from Visakhapatnam district had no time to meet the families directly, and whether Fisheries Minister Atchannaidu from Uttarandhra had no thought of visiting them. He recalled that during Y.S. Jagan’s tenure, compensation was given within 48 hours after the 2023 harbour accident, and said Jagan will soon visitt the families personally.
Dr. Seediri Appalaraju said the government showed grave negligence in the deaths of fishermen near the Visakhapatnam coast. He questioned why a boat located only 4 to 8 nautical miles from the shore could not be traced despite mobile signal availability, Coast Guard radar technology and ISRO-supported transponders brought with 100% subsidy. He said applying a routine accident GO to such a major disaster is unjust, and closing search operations after just three days insults fishermen’s lives.
MLC Varudu Kalyani said information was received on the night of the accident, but rescue operations were delayed. Had operations begun in the first few hours, lives could have been saved. She said the contradictory statements of the DIG, RDO and Commissioners prove lack of coordination, while the three-member committee is giving wrong information. She criticised the Home Minister for consoling grieving women through video calls instead of visiting them and demanded that the government at least recover the bodies and hand them over to the families with dignity.