With no signs of the Sri Lankan economic crisis coming to an end, daily-wage earners have started leaving the island nation for India through illegal means.
Early on Monday morning, another batch of 15 persons from five families from Jaffna district reached Neduntheevu. A few others were dropped by boat near Kothandaramar temple on Rettai Thazhai shore, from where they trekked to Arichalmunai.
In the last one month, about 60 people, including women and children, have reached Indian shores by paying ‘ fancy’ prices to vessel operators, who dropped them near Dhanushkodi or any nearby island under the cover of darkness. For every ride, which covered a distance of less than 15 to 20 nautical miles in the Palk Strait, the boatmen allegedly charged anywhere between ₹15,000 and ₹18,000 per head. The Marine Police picked up the Sri Lankan arrivals and conducted inquires in the presence of Central and State agencies.
According to the officers, a majority of the Sri Lankan Tamils who reached Tamil Nadu on Monday had been housed at Boologapathi Alandurai Refugee Camp for Sri Lankan Tamils in Coimbatore district from 1990-2012.
Speaking to reporters, Palaniandi, 75, who was one among them, said, “When the situation improved in Sri Lanka, we returned to our home in Jaffna district. I lived in the Coimbatore camp with my wife Janaki.”
Satishkumar, 26, who was working in a private construction company, and his wife Vidura, 24, said they, too, lived in the camp. After they went back to Sri Lanka, they got married and had two children. With the situation worsening since last month, they had no option but to flee the country, he said.
The Sri Lankan nationals said there were no jobs for them in Sri Lanka. The prices of commodities had skyrocketed, with petrol being sold at ₹350 per litre. “A kilogram of sugar costs ₹300. Rentals had also increased steeply, as landlords had no other source of income,” said Vidura, another asylum-seeker.
The Sri Lankan nationals said they came to Tamil Nadu with the hope of finding food and shelter.
After recording their statements, the officials sent them to the Mandapam Rehabilitation Centre. The total number of Sri Lankan arrivals had crossed 75, including infants and senior citizens, the officials said.
With the Centre remaining silent, the Tamil Nadu government arrested the first batch of people from Sri Lanka under the Indian Passports Act and sent them to judicial custody in Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai. Later, the State government wrote to the Union government, seeking clarification on the issue, and decided to keep them at the Mandapam camp.
A senior government official told The Hindu on Monday that until they hear from the Centre, it had been decided to accommodate asylum-seekers at a special rehabilitation centre in Mandapam.
