Leaders of fishermen associations criticised the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) for taking 87 Rameswaram and Mandapam fishermen all the way to Karaikal with their 18 boats after their repatriation on Monday.
After repatriation of the 87 fishermen with 18 boats and 29 other fishermen from Pudukottai, Thanjavur and Nagapattinam with their 18 boats at the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) north off Kankesanthurai, the ICG took all of them to Karaikal.
Objecting to this, the leaders questioned the logic behind taking the Rameswaram and Mandapam fishermen to Karaikal as they would have to sail back for 25 hours and spend at least Rs. 20,000 on fuel per boat.
“From the point of repatriation at the IMBL, it was just 32 nautical miles to reach here. But the fishermen were taken to Karaikal which was 75 nautical miles away and from there they would have to reach the island covering a distance of 104 nautical miles.
This amounts to double punishment,” said U. Arulanandham, president, Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF).
After the Sri Lankan authorities imprisoned them, the Coast Guard harassed the hapless fishermen on the high seas, he said.
N. J. Bose, president, Rameswaram Port Mechanised Boats Fishermen Association, also took exception to the ICG taking the fishermen to Karaikal with their boats.
“They could have reached home in less than three hours had they been escorted to Rameswaram or Mandapam. As the sea had become rough due to strong winds, the boats which remained anchored for all these days would suffer further damage during sailing,” he said.
He wondered as to why the ICG did not let the fishermen reach the island with an escort patrol vessel after reaching the Indian waters instead of taking them all the way to Karaikal.
The family members were too anxious to receive them and it was not fair on the part of the Coast Guard to ‘harass them’ further, they said.
Sources in the ICG here said they had decided to take the fishermen to Karaikal, considering the safety of the fishermen and their boats.
