Tamil Nadu fishermen shocked by Sri Lanka’s court directive to destroy seized boats

<p>A directive from a Sri Lankan court ordered that 121 mechanised boats, seized from Indian fishermen, shall either be destroyed or sold through public auction comes as a blow to the fishermen on the island.&nbsp;</p> <p>Fishermen association leader Sesu Raja told <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/sri-lankan-courts-dir…"><em>T</em></a><em><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/sri-lankan-courts-dir…"><u>he Hindu</u></a></em> that the the Central government should take steps to bring them back to the Indian shores as they were still worth several crores.</p> <p>The fishermen associations have appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to take it up with the Centre and help retrieve the boats as early as possible.<em>&nbsp;</em></p> <p>Over the last five years, the Sri Lankan Navy personnel have arrested 1,300 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry seized almost 300 boats from them for alleged violations.&nbsp;</p> <p>The arrested fishermen were released after several demonstrations held by fishermen associations.&nbsp;</p> <p>When the fishermen pressed for the release of the remaining boats, only 35 were retrieved after spending INR48 lakh, according to Sesu Raja. Due to the pandemic, normal activity has come to a standstill.&nbsp;</p> <p>The fishermen associations upon hearing that Sri Lankan courts directed boats be either destroyed or brought to auction, appealed to the Tamil Nadu government to take it up with the Centre and help retrieve the boats as early as possible.</p>