Midnight storm snatches livelihood of many in Uttan

Jeevanshakti, which was completely destroyed in the storm. Image/Hanif Patel

Towering waves driven by strong winds and untimely rain wreaked havoc at Bhatodi Bunder in Uttar, Bhayandar, late Saturday night, dealing a massive blow to the fishing community. While officials said the fishing community was alerted beforehand, boat owners claimed that they were in the dark. "We would have anchored our boats near high cliffs had we received any alerts," they said.

Dozens of fishing boats were anchored on Uttan beach, and the storm destroyed one - Jeevanshakti, and damaged two others - Prajakta and Ishwar Doot. The strong winds snapped the ropes of many boats, which hit stones at the breakwater jetty and got damaged. Prajakta and Ishwar Doot, which got stuck at breakwater jetty, were pulled by cranes on Sunday morning.

Philomina Chinchak holds on to the photo of her boat

Philomina Chinchak, 72, and her eight children, residents of Bhatodi Bunder village, mourned the loss of Jeevanshakti. She said she struggled to get a loan for her boat. "My husband passed away many years ago, leaving behind eight children. I had to raise them on my own, so I took out a bank loan to build a fishing boat in 1998. Jeevanshakti was a god to me, but I have lost everything today," Philomina said.

Recalling the midnight havoc, her son Vinod Chinchak said there were three workers on the boat. "I heard the commotion and rushed towards the sea. There were towering waves and I couldn't see anything. The wind was strong... I tried to contact my workers on the boat but they were not reachable. Later, I learnt that they lost their mobile phones." They all survived, but sustained injuries. One of them was admitted to a hospital, but was stable. The fishing boat was the only source of income for the Chinchaks. "We have to repay a loan of Rs 20 lakh. I don't know how we will survive," said Vinod's wife Snehal.

Philomina has requested the chief minister for financial help. "CM sir, please help us. We are completely destroyed. Our source of income was snatched overnight. We have to run our house, repay loans, educate our children." Snehal said, "We have incurred a loss of over Rs 40 lakh, excluding the cost of fishing nets, which we bought recently."

Gregory Sankul, 40, had bought Prajakta about four years ago for Rs 7 lakh. "The repair of the boat will cost Rs 2 lakh." The fishermen helped each other rescue their boats, and in the process, many sustained minor injuries. Government officials conducted a panchnama of the damage. "While Jeevanshakti was completely destroyed, Ishwar Doot and Prajakta can be repaired. We will submit our report to higher ups after evaluating the total damage," said an official, Talathi Ramesh Phapale.