Rameswaram: An emergency meeting of all the fishermen’s associations in Rameswaram here on Monday decided to strike work from Tuesday (March 12) to press the Centre and State governments to take up with Sri Lanka their long-pending charter of demands.
The meeting presided over by N.J. Bose, Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Mechanised Boats Fishermen’s Welfare Association, demanded among other things the release of two students- a schoolboy and a college student of Rameswaram- who were allegedly arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy recently and lodged in a prison in Northern Sri Lanka.
The Centre must take steps to have both the students released immediately considering the year-end exams the students would have to take, he said, adding, other Tamil Nadu fishermen languishing in Sri Lankan prisons should also be released. The meeting also demanded compensation for 37 boats of Tamil Nadu fishermen which cannot be rebuilt post-seizure by the Island-Navy.
The meeting also adopted a resolution to hold a protest demonstration here on Wednesday to press these demands.
