RAMANATHAPURAM: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is expected to hand over the two Sri Lankan fishermen, Bernard Groos and Dushmantha Teeris of Thalaimannar, to Sri Lankan navy at International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) on Tuesday.
Saini, Commanding Officer of ICG at Mandapam, is making arrangements for the repatriation of Lankan fishermen along with their boat and the ICG ship C138 will escort the Lankan boat from Rameswaram to the IBML.
Meanwhile, two mechanized boats of Indian fishermen are gathering rust for three months in the island. The two mechanized boats from Rameswaram were badly damaged when Sri Lankan fishermen hurled bombs at the boats, three months ago.
Since then, the Indian government failed to heed the request of fishermen to get the two boats back from Lanka and they were gathering rust.
While the Lankan government took speedy action for the repatriation of its fishermen by getting the Indian government to release them, along with their boat, fishermen here were worried that the government of India had failed to act even belatedly though two months have passed.
N J Bose, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Fishermen's Federation, told Express that due to the indifference of the government, the costly boats were going to rack and ruins in Sri Lankan waters.