Bhatkal: Coast Guard rescues stranded fishermen
Bhatkal: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Friday successfully rescued 24 fishermen stranded at sea off the Bhatkal coast due to strong winds and swell from the fishing boat 'IFB Qamalrul Bhar'.
After getting distress signal from the boat Thursday evening, ICG Ship Kasturba Gandhi, which was on operational deployment in Karnataka coast, was diverted immediately for undertaking search and rescue operation, a Coast Guard release here said.
The ship arrived at the spot from where the information was passed at 8 pm and established communication with the fishermen and reassured the presence of ICG.
The fishing boat had lost propulsion owing to engine failure and was stranded at sea 15 nautical miles off the Bhatkal coast.
In view of rough weather conditions in the area, the boat owner requested deputy director (DD), Fisheries, Karwar for the rescue of fishermen.
With the information from the DD, the Coast Guard took up the entire rescue operation at sea and all the fishermen on board the boat were shifted to the ICG ship by 10.30 am Friday.
The ship then proceeded to Karwar port for handing them over to the fisheries department.
Electronic surveillance is being maintained in the area through a coastal surveillance network to shepherd fishing boats in the area to safer locations and regular weather warning advisory is also being transmitted, the release said.
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Count of voters in Gujarat drops by 73.73 lakh to 4.34 crore post-SIR
Ahmedabad (PTI): The names of nearly 74 lakh voters have been dropped from Gujarat's draft electoral rolls after the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, pegging the total count of electors at 4.34 crore as against the 5.08 crore earlier, an official said on Friday.
The draft electoral rolls were published here by the Election Commission on Friday.
A total of 73.73 lakh voters were omitted from the electoral rolls after the exercise initiated by the EC to clean the rolls, state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Hareet Shukla said.
"Before the publication of the draft electoral rolls, a total of 5,08,43,436 voters were registered in the state. After the publication of these rolls, the number of voters is now 4,34,70,109," he said.
"During the SIR campaign, the names of a total of 73,73,327 voters have been removed from the draft electoral roll," Shukla said.
The names of voters in following categories were deleted in the draft electoral rolls -- deceased voters (18,07,278), absent voters (9,69,662), voters who have permanently migrated (40,25,553), voters registered in two places (3,81,470) and others (1,89,364), a release from CEO office said.
The SIR exercise began in Gujarat on November 4 and ended on December 14.
After the publication of draft rolls, objections and claims regarding them can be submitted to authorities till January 18, the EC earlier said.
