HC Notice on fishermen killings

26 May 2011 06:16 am

Chennai, (PTI)-The Madras High Court yesterday issued notice to the central and state governments on a petition seeking to set up a system along Tamil Nadu coast to protect the lives of Indian fishermen straying into Sri Lankan waters.

In his Public Interest Litigation (PIL), S Gnaneswaran claimed that in the past few years more than 400 Indian fishermen had been killed along the India-Sri Lanka International Maritime Boundary Line.

The petitioner said fishermen were afraid to go to near the border area, thus depriving them of their fundamental right to a livelihood. "Since they depend on fishing only for their livelihood, they have to take this risk daily," he claimed.

He submitted that even though Indian fishermen did not want to cross the International Maritime Boundary Line between India and Sri Lanka, "it is very difficult for them to identify the boundary line".

The petition said, "The main reason for all these problems and death of fishermen is that the International Maritime Boundary Line is not known to the fishermen."

The petitioner said the solution to the problem was to provide a chain of Automatic Identification System stations along the Tamil Nadu coast. The process would also not be very expensive, he said.