Twenty-four fishermen of Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts, whose boats were seized by the Sri Lankan Navy in the recent past, were given ₹1.13 crore as financial assistance here on Saturday.
Fisheries Minister Anitha R.Radhakrishnan handed over the aid sanctioned from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund at the Nagapattinam Collector’s Office in the presence of A. Arun Thamburaj, Collector, N. Gowthaman, Chairman, Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation, U. Mathivanan, Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing Development Corporation, V. P. Nagai Mali, MLA, and others.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Radhakrishnan said that Chief Minister M. K. Stalin had sanctioned ₹5.61 crore to be given as relief to 125 fishermen whose fishing vessels were seized by Sri Lankan Navy from the CM’s Public Relief Fund. This included ₹5 lakh each sanctioned for 108 mechanised boat owners and ₹1.50 lakh for 14 country boat owners. The seized vessels are docked at various ports in Sri Lanka and were not sea worthy any longer.
On Saturday, 12 mechanised boat owners and one fibre boat owner from Nagapattinam district and 10 mechanised boat owners and a fibre boat owner from Mayiladuthurai district were given the assistance.
The Minister promised to take steps and expand the fish landing jetty at Nagapattinam.
