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Coimbatore
Union Minister, leaders visit agitating fishermen
March 12, 2017
Chennai: It was a host of leaders who met the protesting fishermen in Rameswaram. Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, rebel AIADMK faction head O Panneerselvam and DMK leader M K Stalin met fishermen on an agitation against the killing of their colleague allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy last week.
Radhakrishnan told the media later that Sri Lanka had assured India during the tripartite talks in Delhi that they would not shoot Indian fishermen and only arrest them if they crossed the international maritime boundary.
They have violated this, the Minister of State for Shipping said, adding that the issue would be takne up at the next round of tripartite talks on March 16. The Centre would do all to redress the grievances of the fishermen. Though the fisherman was killed on March 6, the minister said he was informed about this the next day.
Radhakrishnan alleged that in the past 22 years, a total of 500 fishermen had been killed by the Lankan Navy.
He requested the fishermen to give up the agitation and accept their colleague’s body kept in a mortuary here. The minister earlier visited the government hospital and placed a wreath on the body.
But the protesters were firm and said they would not accept the body till a permanent solution to the problem was found.
Former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said the Centre should take steps to put an end to such attacks and financially support the family of the deceased. He would leave for Delhi soon to appraise the Centre of the issue, he added.
Paneerselvam along with former fisheries minister K Jayapal paid homage to the deceased.
Stalin told media outside the mortuary that the Centre had failed to act so far in the issue. “The demands of the fishing community have not been met. No one from the External Affairs Ministry has visited the protesting fishermen,” he said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of fishermen continued their protest here for the fifth day on Saturday against the killing of 22-year-old Bridgo. Fishermen and students from Nagapattinam, Karaikal and Jegadapattinam also joined the stir.
