Stalin: PM ignoring TN’s demand, hasn’t taken steps to resolve fishermen issue

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ignoring Tamil Nadu’s demand for resolving the fishermen issue and claimed that he did not seem to have taken up Katchatheevu islet retrieval with Sri Lanka during his recent visit there.

Modi has also not initiated measures to have the Tamil Nadu fishermen and their fishing boats released, Stalin said in the Assembly.

Stalin said, “This only shows that Tamil Nadu’s demand for retrieving Katchatheevu has been ignored. It does not appear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who went to Sri Lanka, raised the fishermen’s release, too.”

“This is regrettable and disappointing,” he added.

On Saturday, in his meeting with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Modi had pitched for resolving the fishermen issue between the two countries with a humane approach, and Sri Lanka released 14 Indian fishermen as a special gesture the next day.

Leader of the Opposition AIADMK and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami lashed out at the Chief Minister accusing him of ‘blaming others’ on Katchatheevu eyeing the next Assembly election to the state.

“Katchatheevu was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 when the DMK was in power. It was the DMK that betrayed Tamil Nadu. But, the CM is blaming others with an eye on the next Assembly election,” Palaniswami told reporters outside the Assembly.

While sharing power at the Centre during the Congress-led UPA regime, the DMK has done precious little on the subject. “They are the ones who created the problem. They are the ones who are diverting it now,” the former CM said.

In the House, Stalin said although the Centre has ‘let down’ the fishermen, his government would continue to strive for their welfare. He announced a slew of schemes including a fishing harbour at Thangachimadam, in Rameswaram, for Rs. 150 crore.

A special programme to provide training including seaweed farming to 7,000 people, training to 15,300 fishermen to prepare fish and fish-based value-added products, training to 14,000 beneficiaries for mushroom farming and tourist boat operation at a cost of Rs 53 crore, were among the initiatives announced by Stalin.