Rameswaram fishermen have resolved to stage ‘self-immolation’ protest on July 14 and decided to abstain from fishing from Sunday, as they have been peeved at Sri Lanka’s legislation, banning bottom trawling in Palk Bay, their traditional fishing base, and warning of two years imprisonment and fine for violators.
Condemning the legislation as harsh and aimed at debilitating their livelihood, leaders of 11 mechanised boat fishermen associations met in Rameswaram on Saturday and resolved to commit self-immolation with others, stating “if the governments could not protect our livelihood, they better allow us to die.”
“The entire fisher folk in the island would gather in front of the post office in the island and commit self-immolation,” P. Sesu Raja, a fishermen association leader, said. When the State and Central governments were not forthcoming to protect their livelihood, there was no point in living, he said.
The Sri Lankan government’s legislation was a direct threat to them, they said. They had been fishing in Palk Bay, their traditional waters for centuries, and the Lankan government had no right to impose restrictions, the leaders said.
They were forced to enter Lankan waters only after India ceded Katchatheevu to Sri Lanka and failed to implement the 1974 agreement, they said. They would confine themselves to Indian waters, if the Centre retrieved the island, they argued.
The leaders urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to directly take up the issue with the Lankan government and ensure peaceful fishing in Palk Bay till they switched over to deep-sea fishing or given an alternative livelihood. After young fisherman Britjo was shot dead, allegedly by the Lankan navy, the Centre promised them peaceful livelihood, only to deceive them, they charged.
The legislation should be kept in abeyance as they were preparing to switch over to deep-sea fishing. As it would take a couple of years to phase out bottom trawling, they should be given time till then, they said. The leaders also urged the Centre to secure the release of more than 60 fishermen detained in Lankan prisons.
The more than 160 boats, which were detained in Sri Lanka for about two years, suffered an extensive damage and there was no point in getting them back. Instead, the governments should pay compensation of ₹50 lakh each to the boat owners, they said.
