Rameswaram: Up to 55 Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested and eight boats were seized by Sri Lankan naval personnel on Sunday, after which Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister MK Stalin urged the Center to secure their release and the 73 boats captured so far. by the neighboring country. The Chief Minister's office in a tweet reported that Stalin spoke by phone with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and asked him to take immediate action to free Sri Lankan fishermen and their boats.Read also - Tamil Nadu MBBS Admission 2021: Registration for MBBS, BDS degree courses starts today at tnhealth.tn.gov.in | Apply through the direct link provided here
"The Union minister assured immediate action," said an official statement. Stalin also wrote a letter to Jaishankar and addressed the issue of continued harassment of fishermen by Lankan naval personnel. The Chief Minister noted that a total of 73 ships, including the 8 now seized, are being held by the Sri Lankan authorities, and urged the Center to take action in this regard. Read also - Tamil Nadu: 3 students killed when school bathroom wall collapses in Tirunelveli
โThe official said that shortly after the arrest of 43 fishermen and the seizure of 6 boats from Rameswaram, another 12 fishermen from the Mandapam area were also subsequently detained. Two Mandapam fishing boats were also seized, โStalin wrote. He further said that to demand his immediate release, the Tamil Nadu fishermen's association has said it would organize a protest on Monday and announced the launch of an "indefinite strike" as well. Read also - After a student from class 12 discovers 3 coins from the Chola period, Tamil Nadu will excavate at Ramanathapuram
Stalin, in a letter to Jaishankar, said he was saddened by the continued arrest and harassment of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Lankan Navy with "alarming frequency" despite the state government broaching the issue with the government. central. "I would also like to point out that in the same year 2021 there were 19 incidents of apprehension and attack of fishermen from Tamil Nadu," said the CM.
Although the fishermen were released, the fishing boats, a source of livelihood for them, continue to be detained by the authorities of the island nation. "Also, during the same period, there were two cases of attacks and five fishermen were killed," Stalin noted.
Repeated attempts by the Lankan Navy to prevent Indian fishermen from exercising their traditional fishing rights through "intimidation tactics" must not be allowed to continue, he added.
Urging the Center for concerted action to address this "festering" problem, he called for the Foreign Minister to intervene to secure the immediate release of 55 fishermen and 73 fishing boats (including vessels seized in previous incidents) from Sri Lanka. The fishermen set out on December 18 from here in more than 500 boats and were fishing off Katchatheevu Island when 43 of them were arrested and six boats seized early Sunday, the Fisheries department official said.
After their arrest, they were taken to the Kangesanthurai camp, authorities and the leader of a fishermen's association said. Ramanathapuram MP K Navas Kani also spoke with union ministers and urged them to take immediate action for the release of the fishermen and their boats.
(With PTI inputs)
