What Sushma Swaraj assured TN's troubled fishermen

'The minister said we should stop fishing near the shore and start going for deep sea fishing.'

Tempers which have been frayed among fishermen in southern Tamil Nadu for years over Sri Lanka arresting some of them for fishing in what it claims are its territorial waters, seizing their boats, etc, spilled over recently when a 21-year-old Indian fisherman, K Britjo, was killed by the Lankan navy.

Britjo was among six fishermen who were fishing in the waters around Dhanushkodi on the night of March 6 when the Lankan navy opened fire on their mechanised boat.

Hit in the throat by a bullet, Britjo died before he could be brought ashore for treatment.

Calling it a 'cold blooded, inhuman, horrific and illegal barbaric killing of a young Indian fisherman,' Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ezhapadi K Palaniswami wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to summon the Lankan high commissioner over the killing to convey the anger of the fishermen community.

Britjo's death was only the latest incident in a decades-old row over the Sri Lankan navy's regular arrest of Indian fishermen and seizure of their boats.

The fishermen of Rameswaram say with the International Maritime Boundary being too close, such clashes are bound to happen.

In a bid to resolve this long and vexatious issue, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj invited six fishermen from Rameswaram to New Delhi for talks on March 21.

Jesuraja, one of the six fishermen who met Swaraj, reveals to Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar what transpired at the meeting with the EAM.

"We asked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to arrange for monetary compensation for the fisherman killed by the Sri Lankan navy.

"We also told her that the arrest of fishermen near Katchatheevu should stop immediately. It is our traditional fishing area, we told her.

"Furthermore we told her that while Sri Lanka was releasing our fishermen, it was not releasing their boats.

"The Sri Lankan navy has over a hundred of our boats in custody. The boats must be in very bad shape now.

"We told the minister that we could not go fishing with fear in our hearts.

"She has promised compensation for the boy who was killed. She also said that talks to retrieve the boats are on with the Lankan government and they would be released soon. But she did not give a date for that.

"She said we should stop fishing near the shore and start going for deep sea fishing.

"She said the government was releasing Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) for us to improve our deep sea fishing methods.

"Each boat costs Rs 70 lakhs (Rs 7 million). So we will pay Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million), while the government will give us Rs 60 lakh (Rs 6 million).

"It is a subsidy and not a loan.

"We are happy with the talks and we hope they can convince the Lankans to give our boats back."

"Even as we were talking to the minister, the Lankans arrested 10 more fishermen. One more boat was seized.

"We are capable of deep sea fishing and we look forward to this new innings in our lives.

"It will certainly benefit the fishing folk, and the people who eat fish will get greater variety.

"Overall, the fishermen have come back happy after meeting Minister Sushma Swaraj.

"All we need to wait for is how soon she can get our boats back and how soon the new scheme will be implemented.

"After that, the fishermen of Rameswaram can start venturing beyond Lanka into the deep blue sea."

Image only published for representational purposes. Photograph: Babu/Reuters

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