Virudhunagar MP B. Manickam Tagore has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention into the issue of the Sri Lankan government deciding to auction 105 fishing boats belonging to Tamil Nadu fishermen that were seized between 2015 and 2018, by the Sri Lankan Navy.
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In a memorandum, the Congress MP expressed his concern over the Sri Lankan Navy frequently arresting fishermen of the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and seizing their fishing boats on the pretext that the fishermen were crossing the international maritime boundary line. When the fishermen are released from the jails in Sri Lanka they come out with the confidence that their seized boats would be returned to them through the efforts of the Union government. However, the fishermen who have already lost their livelihood due to the seizure of their boats now have totally lost confidence in their livelihoods as their boats are about to be auctioned, the MP said.
The MP wanted the Prime Minister to strongly express the disapproval of the Union government over this auction, to Sri Lanka. .He pointed out that the Ramanathapuram district fishermen associations have announced an agitation on February 2 to draw the attention of the Union government to this, and to stop the auctioning process by the Sri Lankan government.