RAMANATHAPURAM: Fifteen more
refugees
from the economic crisis-hit Sri Lanka reached
Tamil Nadu on Monday morning. The families set off in a fishing boat from
Mannar
in the early hours of Monday and reached
Kothanda Ramar Temple
seashore in Rameswaram. The refugees, members of five families, are from Anaikoddai in Kaakai Theevu in Jaffna. They spent around 2.5 lakh Sri Lankan rupees (around Rs60,000 Indian currency) for the journey. Y Nirojan, 28, a daily wage worker, came with his wife N Vaitheeswari, 20, and their 11-month-old son N Girijan. "We could not afford the rent for the house and basic food items due to the inflation," said Vaitheeswari.
She told reporters that they had pledged the little jewellery they had to pay for the boat ride. The family went to Neduntheevu and desperately asked a few fishermen there if they would take them to Rameswaram.
"At last, around 2am, one fisherman agreed. All of us boarded the boat, and he dropped us here," she said and expressed concern over the masses deprived of such an arrangement to flee Sri Lanka. The other refugees include N Palaniandi, 75, and his wife P Janaki, 63. This is the second time the couple have come to India for refuge. They stayed in the Sri Lankan refugee camp near Alandurai in Coimbatore district, from 1990 and returned to Lanka in 2012.