CHENNAI: After 13 more fishermen were nabbed and two boats seized by the Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday morning, the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami shot off yet another letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday, expressing concern about the Sri Lankan Navy continuing to detain Tamil Nadu fishermen and their boats and urging him to take up the matter at the highest diplomatic level.
With the nine who set out on a mechanised boat from Nagapattinam and the four who went from Rameswaram in another boat and reportedly detained at Kankesanthurai, there now are 48 fishermen and 122 boats in Sri Lankan custody.
The SL government has been releasing the men in batches but not the boats, which the TN government asserted was a deliberate strategy to cripple the fishing community.
“Though the Government of Sri Lanka promised to consider the release of these boats, no decision has been taken on this,” Palaniswami said in his letter to Modi. The boats were getting damaged because of disuse each day and without their livelihood base, these fishermen have grown despondent, he said.
The solution to the persistent irritation the fishermen face in Palk Bay was to promote deep sea fishing, for which the State has proposed a Rs 1,650 crore comprehensive package, he said, seeking early sanction of funds.