Over 3,000 TN fishermen chased away by SL Navy

Rameswaram: Over 3,000 Tamil Nadu fishermen were allegedly chased away and nets of many boats snapped by the Sri Lankan Navy while they were fishing off Katchatheevu Tuesday, a fishermen association leader said.

The personnel also sank a mechanised boat mid-sea, he alleged. The fishermen from this island town had ventured into the sea Monday in 594 boats and were fishing near Katchatheevu when the Sri Lankan naval personnel arrived and drove them away, Tamil Nadu Mechanised Boat Association president P Sesuraja said.

The naval personnel cut fishing nets of 50 boats and rammed their vessel into one of the boats carrying four fishermen and sank it. The four fishermen on board were left to struggle in the sea till fellow fishermen rescued them, he added.

Noting that the livelihood of the state's fishermen was at stake, Sesuraja said the Centre should hold talks with the island-nation and find a permanent solution to the long-standing problem of fishing in the Palk Strait, an inlet of the Bay of Bengal between southeastern India and northern Sri Lanka.

(With inputs from PTI)