News
Beefed-up maritime patrols to stop Lankan economic refugees fleeing to TN
Navy and security authorities have stepped up security and patrolling activities along the North-East maritime border to prevent Sri Lankan economic refugees from fleeing to Tamil Nadu citing food scarcity.
On Thursday, a family of four, including an infant, and the skipper of the fishing boat were arrested by Navy teams deployed in the Gulf of Mannar while they were waiting for passage the following day. They have been handed over to the police for legal action.
With 19 Sri Lankan refugees reaching India’s Tamil Nadu coast last Sunday, the total number of refugees who fled from Sri Lanka due to the economic crisis has increased to 39 since March 22 this year.
The Navy together with priests and civil society activists held meetings in Mannar to urge the people not to flee the country
More than 100,000 Sri Lankan refugees are still living in temporary camps and rented homes across the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, almost 13 years after the end of the separatist insurgency in the North.
Navy teams organised meetings with civil society, fishermen’s federations and the people in Mannar this week to urge them not to get involved in organising illegal passage to India by fishing boats. They were also encouraged to give tip-offs about any such activity in coastal villages.
Meanwhile, the few families that fled to Tamil Nadu recently are being sheltered at the State-run Mandapam Special camp in Rameshwaran. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin issued a directive to local Indian authorities to provide adequate basic facilities, including dry ration packages to the families. 
Mr. Stalin in a message to India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reiterated the State government’s commitment to ship essential supplies including food grain, vegetables and medicines from Thoothukudi port to Sri Lankan Tamils in Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka, Colombo and the plantation sector Tamils who are reeling under severe food crisis.
“I request that this may be facilitated at the earliest in view of the worsening situation in Sri Lanka,” the Chief Minister said as per an official statement released by his office on Friday.
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