Chief Minister Vijay wrote a letter to the Union government on Monday (Oct. 5), urging it to take the necessary steps to secure the release of Tamil Nadu fishermen.
The Tamil Nadu government said in a press release about this letter:
Chief Minister Joseph Vijay has written to Union External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar today, urging him to take the necessary steps to quickly secure the release of 20 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and 270 fishing boats who have been arrested and detained by the Sri Lankan Navy.
In that letter, he has requested that the Union Minister for External Affairs pay special attention to the continued arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen.
In the letter, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister stated that on Oct. 5, Sri Lankan Navy personnel arrested nine fishermen from Rameswaram and also seized their mechanized boat (Registration No: IND-TN-10-MM-0457), and that the repeated occurrence of such incidents is causing great concern and fear among the coastal fishing communities of Tamil Nadu.
Furthermore, he has stated that fishermen from Ramanathapuram and the adjoining coastal districts have traditionally been engaged in fishing in the Palk Strait region to sustain their livelihoods, and that, in particular, since fishing boats are their primary means of livelihood, the arrest of fishermen and the seizure of their boats cause immense distress and economic hardship to their families.
In the letter, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has pointed out that the swift release of the arrested fishermen and their boats is extremely essential for the affected families.
The continued occurrence of such incidents underscores the need to further strengthen the current official framework for dialogue between the two countries, and he has also requested that the India-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group on fisheries, established for this purpose, be properly restructured, its meeting convened at the earliest, and steps taken to find constructive solutions to the problems faced by fishermen of both countries.
Therefore, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay has urged Union External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar in the letter to immediately take up this matter with the Sri Lankan government and take the necessary steps to quickly secure the release of the 20 Tamil Nadu fishermen currently in custody in Sri Lanka, bring them back home, and recover the 270 fishing boats that have been seized, it is stated.