Residents in the 222 fishing villages along the Kerala coast may soon have access to public Wi-Fi for Internet services. The government is awaiting Central aid for the project to be taken up under the Ockhi relief package to enhance the safety of fishermen at sea.
M. Sivasankar, IT Secretary, said the public Wi-Fi would be offered for fishermen and their families to access weather warnings and keep track of fishing boats. “It is one of the proposals in the cyclone relief package submitted to the Centre,” he said on Thursday.
“The public Wi-Fi is intended to augment the mobile phone service that is popular with fisherfolk. It can also be used as part of a geofencing system to alert fishers when they cross the boundary waters.”
Geofencing employs GPS technology to create a virtual boundary and trigger an alert when a mobile device crosses the perimeter.
Fleet safety management has assumed priority ever since hundreds of fishermen were stranded at sea last month when Cyclone Ockhi struck along the south Kerala coast. Almost 80 fishers perished at sea and more than 100 are still missing.
Failure to provide early warning
The government had come under intense scrutiny for the failure to provide timely warning for fishermen who had ventured out to sea before the storm intensified into a cyclone.
The Wi-Fi network for coastal villages will augment the government’s plan to equip fishing vessels with satellite-based navigational equipment to provide guidance and warn fishermen about weather events.
