Indian Coast Guard to furnish details on protecting Tamil Nadu fishermen

A division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad, passing interim orders on a PIL moved by Fishermen Care said, “The officer shall explain to the court as to whether there could be any Coast guard ship or Navy ship providing signal to the fishermen by way of transponders and have two way communication with Indian fishing boats warning them in the event of them crossing the International Maritime Border Line (IMBL).”

The bench also directed the additional director of state fisheries to submit a detailed technical know-how as to how the fishing boat transponders and towers operate. It also directed the officer to file an affidavit as to whether fishermen of Nagapattinam to Rameswaram regions could be provided transponders and VHF handsets on subsidy.

Earlier, assistant solicitor general Karthikeyan filing an affidavit on behalf of the Union ministry of external affairs submitted that a Joint Working Group (JWG) comprising officials from India and Sri Lanka have agreed to establish joint patrolling around IMBL by Coast Guard/Navy of both the countries for better coordination and monitoring, and establishment of hotline connectivity for quick communication between Coast Guards of both the countries. “The hotline has since been established between Coast Guards of both the countries and joint patrolling has been strengthened around the IMBL with enhanced cooperation of both the Coast Guards to prevent trespassing of fishing boats,” he said and added that it is proposed to install transponders on large scale mainly in fishing boats of States having close proximity of neighbouring countries, so as to locate their movements and prevent cross-border fishing activities. 

Fishermen Care had moved the PIL seeking for a direction to the Centre to refer all the cases of violation of human rights of Indian fishermen by Sri Lanka to the International Court of Justice.