TIRUNELVELI: Assembly Speaker M Appavu on Saturday appealed to Chief Minister M K Stalin to take steps to repatriate 28 Idinthakarai fishers who had gone to Iran for fishing and were apprehended by the Bahrain coast guard on September 11.
“Following the arrest, an appeal was submitted by you (Stalin) to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, urging the centre to intervene. Despite this, the fishermen are yet to be freed,” Appavu told Stalin in his letter.
In another letter, the speaker demanded the diversion of surplus water from Kanniyakumari district towards the Radhapuram canal. “Every year, thousands of cubic feet of water from the Pazhayar in Kanniyakumari flows into the sea. To utilise this surplus water effectively, the CM had approved a project to divert it to the Radhapuram canal through a pumping water transfer system. An allocation of Rs 2 crore was sanctioned and a DPR for `200.99 crore was prepared and submitted,” he said.
If implemented, the project would provide irrigation benefits to 52 ponds located within a 16-km radius around Kudankulam and surrounding areas, Appavu said.