Fishermen belonging to six coastal districts in Tamil Nadu today suspended their five-day-old indefinite stir, seeking steps to secure release of Indian fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan Navy and their boats, following talks with authorities.

The fishermen belonging to Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Tiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukottai and Ramanathapuram districts, had launched the indefinite stir on January 25.

Earlier hundreds of fishermen staged a road and rail roko besides a blockade of the port in Karaikal demanding that the Centre take steps to secure release of the fishermen arrested by Lankan navy and their 75 boats.

Fishermen in over 500 fishing boats surrounded the MARG Karaikal port around 8 am and blocked movement of ships and barges to and from Karaikal port, officials said. Simultaneously, fishermen resorted to road blockade at Vanchoor area in Karaikal-Nagapattinam border and rail blockade near Pattinacherry in Karaikal.

Road traffic came to a standstill between Nagapattinam and Karaikal for over two hours. The Kamban Express train bound for Karaikal from Chennai was blocked by protesters near the station here for over an hour.

The protest was withdrawn a few hours later following talks with Nagapattinam District Collector S Pazhanisamy. Nagapattinam Joint Director of Fisheries M Subburaj told PTI that the fishermen withdrew their protest and also suspended their indefinite agitation after talks with the District Collector.

“The Collector assured the fishermen that steps will be taken to retrieve the boats at the earliest,” he said. Fishermen representatives said they withdrew the protest and suspended their indefinite agitation following talks with the Collector.

They said they would resume fishing activities from tomorrow. However, they said the agitation would be resumed if their demands are not met, they said. A large number of police personnel have been deployed in Karaikal and Nagapattinam areas.

Source: PTI

-Agencies