When the first batch of five persons from Sri Lanka, including women and children, landed illegally in the Dhanushkodi islet on the night of March 22, 2022, officers of the Central and State agencies monitoring the Palk Bay were taken aback by their agonising accounts of the economic crisis in the island. It was early days yet in the crisis across the Bay, and the world had not yet heard the full story or had no inkling of how it would worsen over the months.
The police officers at Mandapam near Rameswaram in Ramanathapuram district booked them under the Indian Passport Act, produced them at a magistrate court and took them to the Puzhal Central Prison for judicial custody. Then started a debate on whether those who had come fleeing an economic crisis should be granted the ‘refugee’ status, given that Tamil Nadu had not granted the status to anyone who had arrived after 2012. However, the State government allowed them as refugees at the Mandapam camp itself. Thus, they were granted bail and taken back to Ramanathapuram district.
High prices
The number of refugees who arrived as on November 30 stands at 214. These people, mostly from Sri Lanka’s war-affected and economically deprived northern districts, reached here in boats after paying fancy prices ranging from Sri Lankan Rupee 1 lakh to 3 lakh and are housed in the sprawling Mandapam camp. One elderly woman, who had arrived here from Sri Lanka, had fallen sick and was admitted to Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai, where she died.
Security officers in Ramanathapuram said interrogations with the refugees revealed that they lost their jobs owing to the economic crisis. To hear it from the mouths of the refugees, it seemed as if life in the island nation was not tenable any more — the prices of goods had touched a new peak and sometimes, they could not even get essential commodities. Food inflation soared over 80%, pushing many into starvation. Managing to mobilise money, often their entire savings, and more often taking out loans to pay for the boats, some marginal farmers and fishermen vacated their dwellings and came to India along with their families.
Of the 214 people who arrived, almost 80% were youngsters and their spouses and children. Only a handful of people were senior citizens. The refugees included a few habitual offenders, who were involved in crimes in Sri Lanka, the officers said, adding that they were being watched round the clock.
Speaking to The Hindu, Antony (name changed), a construction worker from the eastern Trincomalee district, who arrived here around mid-May with his family, said life had turned miserable for him as there was neither job nor food any more. “I couldn’t pay my house rent since March... The landlord there was in no mood to listen to my sorrowful tale and asked me to vacate.”
Antony added, “My company MD, after understanding my problem, gave me Sri Lankan Rupee 3 lakh, with which I managed to engage a boatman and reached the first islet in Dhanushkodi...”
Antony, who is in his early 40s, said he had been allotted a dwelling in the Mandapam camp, where he lives with his wife, two children and an aged aunt, with whom he travelled to India. After a fortnight, he started hunting for a job in Rameswaram. He says he now earns about ₹550 a day and gets food from the camp.
Like Antony, a few other residents in the Mandapam camp with whom this correspondent spoke when they set out for work continue to be unaware of the exact reasons for the crisis in their country. They have a general idea, though. While one resident said the then President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was responsible for the crisis, others accused his family of having looted the nation’s wealth. “A beautiful country that was the most preferred destination all around the globe for tourists has suddenly become a hated place... Even during the ethnic war, tourists arrived; but now, the sons of the soil are being forced to flee the nation,” they said.
Savings wiped out
A 35-year-old woman, Mary, (name changed) from Kilinochchi district, said she used to sell fish. Her husband had worked in the nearby dock. She said she made good money at weekends. This money was enough for the couple and their three children — until January this year. “In mid-February and early March, things suddenly hit rock bottom. All my savings were gone within a month,” she said.
She speaks painfully about the long queues at grocery stores and how the salesmen in the shops started rationing the goods. The prices skyrocketed and rice and sugar were selling for Sri Lankan Rupee 300 a kg, a steep increase from 60 a kg.
Many refugees are still unable to come to terms with the crisis and its impact on their lives and livelihoods. They are thankful to the Central and State governments for having come to their rescue. | Photo Credit: L. BALACHANDAR
For many of the women who dared to flee by hiring a vessel, it was a nightmarish experience. The 13 nautical mile ride started off past midnight from an isolated location. The boatmen (mostly fishermen) were keen on dropping them off and returning in a hurry as they apprehended trouble from the Sri Lankan Navy.
From the time the crisis started this year, the Navy has apprehended some 1,000 Sri Lankans trying to flee by sea to different countries. In November, 303 Sri Lankans were rescued mid-sea after their vessel broke down somewhere between the Philippines and Vietnam. They are currently in Vietnam “pleading” not to be sent back to Sri Lanka, according to media reports.
As a result, many said they had to wade in the shallow sea for almost a mile towards the Indian shores. “Only after the sun rose and with the arrival of the Indian Coast Guard personnel, who came to our rescue in hovercraft, did we feel safe,” one of them said.
“I couldn’t pay my house rent since March... The landlord there was in no mood to listen to my sorrowful tale and asked me to vacate”Antony (name changed)a construction worker from Trincomalee district
While 21-year-old Fathima (name changed) from Trincomalee said the crisis had suddenly rendered her a refugee, there are indeed many persons among the 214 who have come back to Indian shores after being refugees in Tamil Nadu during the Sri Lankan war.
Fathima thanks the Indian government, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and the Coast Guard for accommodating them, but she still weeps uncontrollably at the loss of her education, and in contemplation of a future that was disrupted by an economic crisis.
“After hiring a boat, twice we had to return home as the sea was rough. Finally, the boatman dropped us off at a location near the Arichalmunai islet. With just a bottle of water, I was stranded there for almost six hours. Marine Police officers then came and picked us up,” Fathima said. The last two months at the Mandapam camp, she added, had opened up a new life for her.
Nevertheless, she has tried to adjust herself to her new surroundings — the food, the environment and people living in a guarded camp. She also has plans to pursue higher education through the distance learning programme.
She is not sure about when the economic crisis would end in Sri Lanka or when she could go back. But she cannot wait to return to a country that’s not struggling any more, because it is home.
Entry restricted
The officials said the camp has a total of 1,441 inmates, with 551 families. Mediapersons are not allowed inside; only police from special wings like the Q-Branch and a few Central security agencies have access.
Clearly not every thing is easy for people displaced from their homeland. A month ago, the residents staged a demonstration for about an hour alleging that the food served was of poor quality. The ration goods, too, were unfit for consumption. They alleged that the officials at the camp did not give them the daily allowance of ₹175 regularly. However, officials denied the allegations and said all payments were recorded properly.
The protesters, however, claimed that the dwellings required repairs as they were dingy, having been built some three decades ago or more. Families arriving in the Indian shores are allotted small houses measuring 225 sq ft., and living quarters can often feel cramped.
The police officers on surveillance duty at the camp said the economic crisis had pushed all categories of people out seeking a better place to live, and there were habitual offenders inside the camp who had reportedly been involved in petty to heinous crimes in Sri Lanka.
“After hiring a boat, twice we had to return home as the sea was rough. Finally, the boatman dropped us off at a location near Arichalmunai. With just a bottle of water, I was stranded there for almost six hours. Then, Marine Police officers came and picked us up”Fathima (name changed)a refugee from Trincomalee
“Such persons also venture out; they say they are seeking jobs too, and we have to be vigilant and keep a close watch on them till their return to the camp by 6 p.m. on all days,” they said.
Local entrepreneurs in the coastal district, who engaged refugees on daily wages, in and around Mandapam, Pamban and Rameswaram, said the Sri Lankan Tamils were treated as migrant workers. “We have workers from Assam, Mizoram, West Bengal and Manipur working in the fish export firms here,” they said. Apart from food, they were paid ₹375 a day in wages. Some others were also employed in restaurants run by north Indians.
Depending on their willingness, the refugees are also given work at weekends by the local shopkeepers on condition that they return to the camp by 6 p.m., the officials said.
(With inputs from Meera Srinivasan in Colombo.)
