Chief Minister: Not a single boat released since 2015

Chief Minister’s letter to the Prime Minister, dated February 2, 2017, raising the fishermen’s issue with the Centre was released by the state government on Friday. The Chief Minister said the Sri Lankan authorities have not released any of the fishing boats that had been apprehended by them since February 2015. 

“With their sole means of livelihood taken away, the Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu are in a despondent state. Presently there are 119 boats in Sri Lankan custody, which are precariously berthed on the Sri Lankan shore,” he said. 

“Though the government of Sri Lanka committed to consider the release of the boats in the Ministerial-level meeting held in Colombo on January 2, 2017, no action has been taken as yet in this regard,” he added. 

Panneerselvam told the PM that India should take up the matter with the Lankan authorities and ensure the immediate release of the boats and restore them in refurbished condition to the fishermen for their immediate use. He requested Modi to instruct the External Affairs Ministry to take up the issue “effectively” with Sri Lanka and to secure the release of 25 fishermen and 119 fishing boats, including the five fishermen and their mechanised fishing boat apprehended on February 2, without any delay. 

The Chief Minister also recalled that his predecessor, the late J Jayalalithaa, had moved the Supreme Court against ceding of Katchatheevu islet to Sri Lanka by India by way of an agreement in 1974. He also reminded the PM of the state government’s demand for a deep-sea fishing package of Rs 1,650 crore. 

Panneerselvam requested Modi to include a recurring grant of Rs 10 crore as sought by Jayalalithaa and reiterated in the Memorandum he had presented to him on December 19, 2016. “This would go a long way in bringing about a permanent solution to this festering issue plaguing the lives of fishermen from the coastal districts in Tamil Nadu,” he added.