Rs 5 lakh each to 18 fishermen families, who lost boats to Sri Lankan Navy

A total of 80 boats were seized by the Lankan Navy when the fishermen entered the island nation’s waters in 2014. 

Repeated reminders by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak to his Lankan counterpart in this regard ultimately resulted in 64 boats being returned, an official release said. 

The state government had paid for the repairs and fuel for the boats which were ultimately brought back to India. However, 18 of the seized boats, which languished in the island nation’s Trincommalee and Kankesanthurai ports, sank due to lack of upkeep when in custody, the release stated. 

As the livelihood of the owners of the 18 boats was affected by the loass, the state government decided to provide the owners Rs 5 lakh each from the Chief Minister’s relief fund. 

The amount was handed over by the Chief Minister in the presence of Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, IT Minister M Manikandan, Anwar Raja MP and Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan.

Coconut farmers’ cooperatives and associations recognised by the Coconut Development Board and the state government would be allowed to manufacture ‘Neera’ a non-alcoholic drink made from unfermented palm sap, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy announced on Wednesday. 

Releasing measures to rejuvenate Neera production at a special advisory meeting, he said that the above organisations would be permitted to manufacture value-added products from Neera. He added that the scheme would benefit eight crore farmers in the state, who are raising coconut in 10.74 lakh acres.