RAMESWARAM: Providing a much needed relief for the anguished fishermen community in the State, Sri Lanka on Friday ordered the release of all the 51 fishermen from Tamil Nadu arrested by their Navy during the months of November and December 2016, for allegedly poaching into Sri Lankan waters while fishing in Palk Straits and Gulf of Mannar and other nearby fishing areas in the Bay of Bengal.
The fishermen released by the Island-government today included 27 fishers from Rameswaram island alone, five from Pamban, seven from Thoothukudi and 12 from Pudukottai district, said C.R. Senthilvel, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Fishermen’s Confederation.
The release follows the decision taken at a high ministerial-level meeting held in Colombo between India and Sri Lanka on the fishermen’s issue few days back.
The news of the Sri Lankan court releasing all the 51 fishermen as agreed upon at that meeting was received with “tremendous relief and joy” by the fisher-folks here, said Senthilvel. They are expected to return in a day or two.
