The Government has also decided to issue identity cards, with photographs and other relevant details, to each fisherman and make it mandatory for them to have life-jackets. There are approximately one lakh fishermen. The trawler owners who employ fishermen for deep sea fishing will have to purchase life-jackets, while the cost of preparing I-cards will be shared by the Government.

The decision to seek the Centre's permission to set up a State-owned radio station was taken at a meeting of communication experts in Gandhinagar last week. The experts were called by the Government to discuss and devise a fool-proof communication system to forewarn fishermen in future cyclones.

The meeting chaired by Revenue ACS Dr P K Mishra was attended by communication experts from the ISRO, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guards, Fisheries Survey of India, Door Darshan and the All India Radio stations of Rajkot, Bhuj and Ahmedabad. Technical Advisor to the State Government R S Khera and Ports and Fisheries Secretary A D Desai also attended the meeting.

R S Khera, who is also the IGP Communication, told Express Newsline on Tuesday, "If the Union Communication Ministry agrees to issue a licence to the State to install its own radio station, a place near Okha coast would be ideal. Since the Okha coast is not much cyclone-prone, such a transmission installation will be safe."

He said a radio station equipped with high-power transmitters could cover a radius of at least 400 km off the sea coast, enabling the fishermen to receive timely and comprehensive warning about cyclone. The broadcasting frequency will be decided by the Centre.

If the Centre concedes to the State's proposal, the Government will provide radio receivers (like transistors) to all the boats so that boatmen can receive clear warning messages even while fishing in deep sea. A radio receiver would cost less than Rs 150. It is estimated that Gujarat has 11,000 trawlers.

Dr P K Mishra said there was also a proposal, as a short-term measure, to have special alert messages relayed from the All India Radio station of Rajkot which claims to cover large coastal areas of Kutch and Saurashtra. Each of the boats could be provided with a transistor with fixed frequency tuned to the Rajkot AIR station to receive cyclone warning in time.

There was a suggestion at the meeting that the Government could also set up two more high-frequency radio stations, one each near Jakhau and Porbander coasts to make the communication system more fool-proof and accessible for the fishermen venturing into the deep sea. A message could be devised in a common language so that boatmen could understand it properly and promptly, Mishra said.