The Hindu : Front Page : Solatium for fishermen increased

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Friday, Jul 18, 2008
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Solatium for fishermen increased

Special Correspondent

— Photo: M. Vedhan

SEEKING PROTECTION Fishermen with Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the Secretariat on Thursday. They called off their agitation following a satisfactory meeting.

CHENNAI: The solatium given to the kin of fishermen killed in firing by the Sri Lankan Navy has been increased from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.3 lakh. If a family is left without a breadwinner because of such a death, those families will be given Rs.5 lakh.

Those seriously injured will be given Rs.50,000 and those who sustain simple injuries will be given Rs.20,000.

This was a major decision taken at the end of a meeting between Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and representatives of fishermen from Rameswaram. The fishermen have been refusing to go to sea for the past two weeks after the Sri Lankan Navy shot dead two fishermen who were close to Point Pedro.

The State government will request the Centre to provide adequate security to Indian fishermen. A delegation of Union Ministers from the State and MPs from the coastal districts will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and impress on him to take up the issue of safety of Indian fishermen with the Sri Lankan government.

Satisfied with the outcome of their meeting with the Chief Minister, the representatives of fishermen announced that they were calling off their 15-day long strike. The fishermen spent 25 minutes with the Chief Minister. “The Chief Minister gave them a patient hearing and said that he understood their problem. He cautioned them against straying across the IMBL and said that they should not do so in the interest of their own safety,” an official said.

The fishermen explained to Mr. Karunanidhi the difficulty of finding fishes within the International Maritime Boundary Line and the Chief Minister replied that they were working on finding a solution to the issue. Chief Secretary L.K.Tripathy in his letter to the External Affairs Secretary on July 14 had suggested that India and Sri Lanka work out an agreement for licensed fishing since fishes were found in large quantity in the Sri Lankan waters.

The Chief Minister assured the fishermen that a reconstructive surgery for the person whose face was disfigured by a bullet could be done at a private hospital in the city and that the State government would bear the expenditure.

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