Presenting a cheque of ₹10 lakh each issued from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund to the families of four fishermen here on Friday, Collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver said that the State government would also take steps to bring back the bodies from Sri Lanka.
The Collector, accompanied by MLA M Manikandan visited the houses of the four fishermen - Mesiya son of Anthony Raj, Nagaraj son of Vellaichami of Vattamvalasai, Senthil Kumar son of Selvam of Thathanendal and Samson Darwin son of Nixon Darwin of Mandapam Refugee Camp.
The four fishermen, who had obtained tokens on January 18, had ventured into the sea for fishing. They should have returned to the shores on January 19. However, initially, there were reports that they were missing. When about six fishermen went in search of them, they got information that the four fishermen had died and the Sri Lankan Navy personnel had retrieved the bodies. They had also charged that the fishermen’s mechanised boat had damaged a surveillance ship of the Lankan Navy.
Condemning the deaths of the four fishermen as brutal murder, fishermen association leader S. R. Sesu Raja has demanded the Centre and State governments to register criminal cases against the Sri Lankan Navy personnel. He urged the governments to bring back the bodies to Tamil Nadu and conduct a postmortem in the presence of government doctors.
Members belonging to the fishermen association also staged an agitation at Thangachimadam demanding compensation and job for the legal heirs of the four fishermen.
