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Indo-Lanka talks lead to release of 42 Indian vessels
View(s):The Fisheries Ministry this week has decided to release 42 of the 140 Indian bottom trawlers, as the first phase of releasing vessels from Sri Lankan custody following ongoing discussions at joint India-Sri Lanka committee meetings, a senior official said.
“We have taken this decision following the talks at the joint committee meetings held in both countries to find a long term solution to this conflict. With the release of these boats we will look at how we can come to a mutual agreement through this process,” Ministry secretary Mrs. W.M.M.R. Adikari told the Sunday Times.
Accordingly the steel boats which are currently detained by the Navy at the Jaffna, Puttalam and Mannar fisheries jetties will be handed over to their rightful owners through the Indian High Commission in Colombo. Most of the vessels are in bad condition due to long anchorage at the jetties and need to be repaired before sailing back to India.
Earlier Northern fisher leaders gave the green light to release the bottom trawlers seized years ago under strict conditions that the Indian fishermen would not return to engage in bottom trawling.
Meanwhile Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Tuesday has written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seeking his intervention to secure the release of all the bottom trawlers and the 11 Indian fishermen currently in remand custody for poaching, in Sri Lanka.
“The Sri Lankan Government is following a deft strategy of not releasing the fishing boats even after the release of our fishermen thereby pushing our fishermen into a poverty stricken state, depriving them of their only means of livelihood,” the Chief Minister alleged in the letter.