Sole breadwinner shot, fishermans sisters lost

NAGERCOIL: At the one-room tile roof house overlooking the Arabian Sea in Erayumanthurai fishing hamlet in Kanyakumari district, Abinaya Xavier (18) and Aguna Xavier (16) present a picture of grief, waiting for some financial relief even as they try to overcome the loss of their 19-year-old brother, Ajish Pingo, one of the two fishermen allegedly shot dead by marines on board the Italian oil tanker Enrica Lexie off Kerala coast on February 15.“As Pingo was the sole bread winner and was young, we have demanded a compensation of Rs 2 crore. But we want the shipping company to pay an interim relief immediately and treat it as interest on the final amount that they would have to pay,” says Fr Churchil of the South Asian Fishermen Fraternity, who has been helping the sisters push the compensation case. “We don’t know how much time the case will go on and the poor sisters cannot starve till then,” he explains.“Though Pingo was killed along with Valentine Jalastine (45) from Kollam in Kerala, separate lawyers have been engaged to fight the case. Even the demands of the dependents are different,” says Fr Churchil.Tragedy has repeatedly struck Abinaya and Aguna since 2004 when they lost their father, a fisherman, in an accident during a fishing trip in his country-made boat.After about four years, they also lost their mother to illness.Now they have lost their only support, their elder brother, who, when their father died, dropped out of school to start working and take on the responsibilities of the family. The sisters too have had to drop out of school, after failing in their tenth standard examinations, and are now living with their maternal uncle.