Vinodbhai Jungi, a boat owner from Porbander in Gujarat, says his boat, Badal (No 2947, a fishing trawler), with six sailors aboard had left Porbander on January 7. “We came to know from the local newspapers that our boat and the six sailors were arrested by the Pakistani authorities on January 9 and are currently lodged in a Pakistani jail. All six of them are from Gholwad. We are now writing to the departments concerned so that these men can come back home,” says Jungi.

The six men — Ganesh Balu Dolare, Shinvar Thakre, Ramesh Thakre, T Bablya, Vilas Garud and Sundar Palna — are aged between 20 and 50. They had gone to Porbander in Gujarat in September last year, looking for work as sailors or khalashis. Nearly 150 km from Mumbai, Gholwad has no proper approach road and just one telephone. The main occupation is fishing.

However, these tribals are not traditionally fishermen, having opted for the profession almost by chance. And, while Mumbai’s fishing trawlers are about 150 km away from Dahanu and Talasari, Gholwad’s tribals opt for Gujarat. Dahanu and Talasari are along the state’s border with Gujarat, but Porbander, where these tribals find work, is 1,300 km away.

Dahanu and Talasari have families of those who have been arrested and are currently languishing in Pakistani jails. Some have received money as relief from the Union Government. Apart from these six families from Gholwad, 21 families from the two talukas are in a similar situation.

Some time in October last year, the Union Government released compensation for fishermen from Gujarat who were lodged in Pakistani jails. Each family was to receive Rs 3 lakh. Later, it was found that 21of them worked as sailors in Gujarat, but were actually tribals from Talasari and Dahanu. These 21 families have now filled forms and opened accounts in a local bank, hoping that they would receive some compensation.

Meanwhile, the condition of the families is pitiable indeed. Jabnu, who has four children to feed and a tiny patch of land to cultivate, says, “All I can do to support my family is sell wood by collecting it from the forest.” She earns only Rs 20 per day. It’s the same story for most families whose bread-winners are in Pakistani jails.

Says Chintamani Vanga, a former MP from the region and a tribal himself, “The male members go out in September (mostly after Ganesh Chaturthi) to work as sailors in Gujarat where they earn a paltry Rs 12,000 to Rs 16,000 for the entire period of nine months. They come home in June, when fishing is prohibited. They are not provided any help by the state Government as they work in Gujarat and the Gujarat Government doesn’t help them since nobody maintains a record of how many sailors get on these boats.”

Thane Collector S Zhende remembers an earlier case of fishermen from Thane being arrested in Pakistani waters: “It’s an old case and we had written to the state Government to ask the External Affairs Ministry to look into the matter,” he said. For now, the district collector doesn’t know about the fishermen being caught in January.