NewsAs Tamil Nadu fishermen poured out their anguish during a State minister’s visit to Nagapattinam district in the State on Sunday, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami accused the Centre of hardly doing anything to pressure Colombo to “desist from day-to-day harassment and arrest of our fishermen, Deccan Chronicle reported. In his first letter on Tamil Nadu fishermen issue to the Centre, Mr. Edappadi Palaniswamy accused the government of India of leaving fishermen at the mercy of Sri Lankan navy. Tamil Nadu has been repeatedly urging the Centre to sanction a comprehensive project for conversion of mechanised trawlers into deep-sea long-liners and create the infrastructure to resolve the issue. “On the Centre’s advice, the first batch of fishermen has also been trained in deep sea long-liner fishing operations. The letter highlights that 32 fishermen and 5 fishing boats have been apprehended by the Sri Lankan Navy in three incidents on March 4 and 5, the report said.

Source: Sunday Times March 06, 2017 02:23 UTC