Palaniswami urges Centre to take steps to repatriate 40 TN fishermen from Iran

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami has urged External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar to arrange for repatriation of 40 fishermen from the state who had been left behind in Iran. They have been left behind due to lack of space in the ship which had repatriated a batch of fishermen from Iran on July 1. In a letter to the External Affairs Minister dated July 10, Palaniswami recalled his earlier letter dated May 19, and said he had requested for the repatriation of stranded fishermen from Iran to Tamil Nadu.

"Accordingly, 681 fishermen have been repatriated safely to Tamil Nadu via INS Jalashwa on 1st July, 2020, and I thank you for the same. Further, around 40 fishermen from Tamil Nadu have been left behind due to inadequacy of space in the ship. I request you to arrange for their repatriation at the earliest to Tamil Nadu in a special flight," the chief minister said in the letter released to the media on Saturday.

The Indian Navy had repatriated over 600 Indians from Iran as part of the Centre's "Samudra Setu" mission to evacuate stranded citizens from abroad. Indian Navy ship Jalashwa repatriated 687 Indian nationals, most of them fishermen, from Iran and they arrived at the VOC Port in Tuticorin on July 1.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) Tamil Nadu state secretary K Balakrishnan wrote to Palaniswami recently, seeking his intervention to rescue the fishermen from the state who have been stranded in Iran without job and income. The fishermen should be given food and other basic amenities until rescued, he had said.