Indian fishermen praise minister Devananda

Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister Douglas Devananda visited the Kachchativu islands last week and met Indian and Sri Lanka devotees participating in the St Anthony's Church feast.

The minister later held a discussion with the fishery society representatives of both countries.

Indian fishermen and their representatives said that they were thankful to Minister Devananda for the interest he had shown for the well-being of not only the Tamil people but also of the Indian fishermen.

They said that they were confident that a permanent solution to the problems faced by the fishermen of both countries could be found through Minister Devananda.

The Indian fishermen said that though discussions to sort out the problems of fishermen of both countries had been going on from 1974, no solution had been arrived at so far.

They were confident that an ever lasting solution to the issues could be arrived at through Minister Devananda's intervention. They also said that no Indian minister had the practice of meeting the people to inquire of their grievances and for them it was a new experience.

Representatives of Indian fishermen said that there was no separate ministry in India for fisheries affairs and that they had heavily invested in the fisheries industry as they had no other alternative for livelihood.

The Tamil Nadu government was not allocating funds to enable them to get engaged in some other employment. As such they were at present subjected to severe difficulties, they added.

The Sri Lankan fishermen thanked President Mahinda Rajapaksa for having granted them permission to fish in Kachchativu area. They said that they were grateful to Minister Devananda for taking action to enable the fishermen of both countries to meet and talk over a matter that needed serious attention.

Minister Devananda said that representatives of fishermen of both countries as well as the two governments should collectively and committedly hold discussions to sort out this problem and it was only through such a course of action that a meaningful solution to the problem could be arrived at.

The minister said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the last SAARC conference and soon the two governments would take action to sort out the problems.

The minister recommended that the Naval Forces of both countries should jointly carry out surveillance operations to rid this problem.