Stalin urges Centre to ensure permanent solution to fishermen issue

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has urged the Centre to find a permanent solution to the fishermen's issue

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged the Centre to find a permanent solution to the fishermen's issue, the government said on Wednesday.

Stalin wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, flagging the incident of a Sri Lankan naval ship ramming into the boat of Indian fishermen from the state.

The Sri Lankan Navy said on Wednesday that they recovered the body of an Indian fisherman who went missing after the boat he was in along with two others was hit by a naval vessel of the island nation off the northern coast, the second such incident this year.

According to an official release from the Tamil Nadu government, Stalin said such incidents were recurring for a long time and a permanent solution was required in the matter.

He also sought rehabilitation of two other fishermen who were rescued by the Lankan navy from the boat that sunk in the impact, in the incident that happened at Neduntheevu on Monday evening.

Fishermen from India and Sri Lanka are arrested frequently for inadvertently trespassing into each other's waters.

In a similar incident in January, four Indian fishermen were killed.

India had lodged a strong protest with Sri Lanka over the death of the four Indian fishermen in the collision between their vessel and the naval craft of the island nation, saying steps should be taken to ensure that such incidents do not recur.