03 August,2011 07:07 AM IST | | Chetna Sadadekar
Fishermen in Mora Village close to Juhu Beach say the tilting of the grounded cargo ship has scared them; claim there is real danger of it toppling onto their houses
More than 3,500 fishermen in Mora Village in Juhu Ruia Park are living in dread of a rather unusual force, which, they say, is threatening the existence of their houses.
The fishermen fear that the MV Pavit, the grounded ship off Juhu Beach which has beenu00a0 lurching and tilting to its right, will fall on their houses and rob them of a place to live, if it starts tilting towards the left.
Residents of Mora Village are afraid that the vesselu00a0may
move towards the left, destroying their dwellings
"No one is worried about usu00a0 now. The police are more bothered about taking care of the people who come to see the ship, even though our houses are in danger.
The ship has tilted to its right now, what will happen when it tilts to its left? What will we do then?" asked Bhagya Dodle, a resident of Mora Village.
"We can only hope that the salvage operation of MT Pavit is carried out soon and doesn't take as long as it took in the case of MV Wisdom.
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We cannot trust the tides. Anything can happen during high tide and we may even lose our houses because of the ship," said Bimla Singh, another resident.
Police officers managing the crowd thronging to see the ship at Juhu Beach also said that there was a danger of the ship sinking, if it tilted further. They said the ship is now facing Versova, could start moving towards it because of the tides.
"The ship, which the coast guard had sent to keep a watch on Pavit, was visible from the beach during high tide, but, as the tide lowered, the coast guard ship took a U-turn and started sailing backwards," said a police officer.
The Other Side
A senior official from the Directorate General of Shipping said, "There is neither a danger of an oil spill, nor of the ship sinking.
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We have established contact with the owner of the ship and also with the insurance company and have issued notices to them to carry out the salvage operation as early as possible.
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Meanwhile, a case for negligence under Section 336 (act endangering the life and safety of others) of the IPC has also been registered against the ship's owners, captain and crewmembers, at the Yellow Gate Police Station."
