18 more Sri Lankan refugees arrive in Tamil Nadu

RAMANATHAPURAM: Eighteen more refugees from the economic crisis-hit Sri Lanka have reached Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu. The refugees, who arrived in Dhanushkodi in two batches on Thursday night and in the early hours of Friday, included six men, five women and seven children.
On Thursday night, 13 people from two families -- including three men, two women and seven children -- sailed from Adamban Vannakulam in district Sri Lanka.They spent Rs 4 lakh to sail to India in two fishing boats. They reached Arichal Munai in Dhanushkodi in Ramanathapuram district around 11pm.
P Kasthuri, 29, of Uyilankulam in Mannar who came with her husband M Pradeep, 30, and daughters P Susmitra, 4, and Sasmitra, 1, had sold jewels of her children, her husband’s bike and other household articles to arrange money for the boat ride to India.
“The situation now is worse than the civil war times as we had difficulty buying essentials to feed the children,” she said. Pradeep had been a policeman in Sri Lanka for eight years till 2021.
Nagulesawaran, 48, of Vannankulam in Adamban, who sailed with his family of nine, including his wife Eswari, 41, five children and pregnant daughter-in-law, narrated the ordeal they had undergone in Sri Lanka and the circumstances under which they sailed to India. Eswari said that they had waited for days to buy LPG and hours to buy fuel and essential supplies.
“Even after the wait, there was no guarantee that we would get what we wanted. We skipped meals. Our daughter-in-law, who is pregnant, was no exception. We spent Rs 2 lakh for the boat journey to India. Many others want to come but they are unable to as they don’t have money,” she said. Their daughter Vinu, 17, said that they had to skip two meals a day. Education became difficult for children.
Her siblings Banusan, 21, Dhanush, 17, Nadhusan, 15, Yadhursika, 12, Mithulan, 8, and sister-in-law Fiona, 21, also came with the parents to Dhanushkodi.
Around 3am on Friday, P Anthonysamy, 58, of Neerveli Vadakku in Jaffna reached Serankottai seashore in Dhanushkodi a with his mother Kitnammal, 81, wife Maheswari, 53, and son Praveen Daniel, 19.
All four had been in a refugee camp in Tuticorin district. While Kitnammal had been in Tuticorin from 1990 to 2017, the others had been there till 2005. They said many of their relatives were still in refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. Along with the family of four, V Subramanian, 72, of Neerveli Vadakku also reached Serankottai.
All of them were taken to the marine police station in Mandapam before they were taken to the refugee camp.
So far, 60 Sri Lankan refugees have arrived in Dhanushkodi since last month.