Ullal: Fishing boat drowns at sea; 6 fishermen missing
Mangaluru: In an unfortunate incident, a big purse seine fishing boat that had ventured on a fishing expedition reportedly drowned at sea, several nautical miles away near the western part of the sea at Ullal. The 6 fishermen on-board are allegedly still missing.
The fishing boat by the name ‘Shri Raksha’, which belonged to Prashant, a resident of Bolar, had ventured into the sea for a fishing expedition before daybreak on Monday. There were reportedly 25 fishermen on the boat. The crew had successfully caught a large number of fish and were recovering the dragnet at 6.30 PM to wrap the day’s work when the boat reportedly capsized due to the ferocity of the waves.
As the purse seine Commercial Boat is largely composed of steel, it has steeped into the ocean. Out of the 25 fishermen on-board, 19 of them have safely reached land. The fishermen’s leader Nitin Kumar has told ‘Vartha Bharathi’ correspondents that there is a possibility that the remaining 6 fishermen, who are missing, could have been caught in the dragnet.
On Tuesday, several boats were dispatched to the site of the accident to help in the search and rescue operations undertaken to find the missing fishermen. Sources reveal that the rescue operations are still underway.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
