Both the BJP and the Congress are casting their nets wide, hoping to get the support of over 5 lakh fishermen-voters scattered over nine seats in the coastal belt that stretches from Dwarka to Navsari. But the fishermen haven’t bitten the bait yet.

In April, the state government announced a Rs 11,000-crore package and in September, the Centre announced Rs 35 crore from the Prime Minister’s relief fund. But Mohan Jiva, a 30-year-old fisherman from Porbandar, who has been jobless ever since his motorised boat was captured by the Pakistani Marine agency in 2004, said these promises meant nothing till he got back his boat. “We were jobless before the schemes were announced and we continue to be jobless. We haven’t got any benefits so far,” Jiva said.

The community wants the government to secure the release of 365 boats and over 300 fishermen languishing in Pakistani jails. Nothing else makes much sense to them, not even Narendra Modi’s ambitious ‘Saagarkhedu Yojana’, which promises technical schools, hospitals and roads in the coastal belt. “Whom do we educate when we do not have any source of livelihood,” asked Jivan Jungi, president of the Porbandar Boat Association.

The Central aid of Rs 35 crore—Rs 5 lakh as compensation to boat owners whose boats have been seized and Rs 3 lakh to the kin of fishermen lodged in Pakistani jails-hasn’t reached the fishermen yet. “Both parties have made promises but none of them has been fulfilled,” said a fisherman.

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