The reported auctioning of 125 mechanised boats, lying in Sri Lanka, was planned only after taking the fishermen concerned into confidence, said officials of the Fisheries Department and a senior representative of the fishermen community.
Fishermen’s associations too had requested the State government to arrange for the auctioning of the boats, said D. Jayakumar, Fisheries Minister, in a statement.
A team of four officials and 10 representatives from the community had visited Sri Lanka during October 10-16, 2018 to ascertain how many of the released boats could be brought back to Tamil Nadu. After deliberations among officials and the representatives, it was decided that 36 boats would be taken home, while the rest could be auctioned in Sri Lanka. Consequently, the boats were brought back to Tamil Nadu during January 16-February 6, 2019, a senior official in the Department said. The State government, according to the Minister, spent ₹47.95 lakh for bringing back the boats.
In May this year, a team was supposed to visit Sri Lanka to bring back 10 more boats, but the pandemic disturbed the plan. As the boats identified for auctioning are properties of Indian nationals, proceeds from the auction will be handed over to the Indian High Commission so that the amount can eventually be passed on to the owners of the boats, the official explained. Mr. Jayakumar said the State government requested the External Affairs Ministry to send the money to it for facilitating their distribution to the boat owners.
P. Jesu Raja, president of the Ramanathapuram district chapter of the All-Mechanised Boats-Fishermen Association, said he was one among those who went to Sri Lanka, and it was agreed that the unsalvageable boats could be auctioned in the neighbouring country itself.
As the value of each boat is in the ₹15 lakh-₹30 lakh range, the owners or the fishermen stand to lose heavily, if the expected revenue through the auction is “just ₹3 lakh-₹4 lakh” a boat. This is why the Central and State governments should provide compensation to the fishermen, in addition to the amount collected through the auction, Mr. Raja said.
