Chennai, Aug 5: DMK president M Karunanidhi yesterday sought the Centre's intervention to end increasing incidents of apprehending of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and also their request to fish near the island nation for a select period due to dwindling resources.
“Every time such incidents happen, the state government takes up the matter with the Centre, which in turn writes to the Sri Lankan envoy to India or that government, but they should not think the job is over by writing such letters,” he said.
He said during a meeting with Minister of State in PMO V Narayanasamy at Karaikal on Saturday, fishermen had requested that they be permitted to fish in Sri Lankan waters during select months.
“They had told him they had been fishing in Indian waters for the last two months, resulting in a decline in fish.
They told him they are being attacked while proceeding to areas with larger resources and (therefore) asked for fishing rights in Sri Lankan areas during specific months.
“Without ignoring these requests as such, the Centre and state governments should consider them with due concern and take efforts to see how they can redress fishermen's grievances,” he said in a statement.
Karunanidhi referred to a slew of incidents reported in the recent past,including that of 20 fishermen from Rameswaram being taken into custody on Saturday by Sri Lankan naval personnel for allegedly trespassing into Lankan waters.
