Sri Lankan woman abandoned by husband reaches TN’s Dhanushkodi with two children

RAMANATHAPURAM: A

Sri Lankan woman

, who was abandoned by her husband and facing a double blow due to the economic crisis in the island nation, sailed to

Dhanushkodi

in Tamil Nadu in a hired boat with her two

children

on Wednesday. The woman and her children were taken to the marine police station for questioning. Later, they were taken to the Sri Lankan refugee camp in Mandapam.


M Varshini, 37, of Timilai Island in Jaffna started in a fishing boat with her daughter Nainika, 11, and son Rangisan, 4, around 10 pm on Tuesday and reached Paalam near Dhanushkodi around 5am on Wednesday.

The woman said that she had spent 2.5 lakh Sri Lankan rupees to hire a boat for her and her children. This is much more than the claims made by the 39 other refugees from 10 families who fled Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi in boats over the last few weeks. The woman said that her husband, Mathialagan, abandoned her and the two children about one and a half years ago and married another woman.

Varishini worked as a domestic help and took care of her children with some support from her kin. Nainika is a Class VII student and Rangisan is a nursery student.

Elaborating the economic crisis in that country, Varshini said that the price of essential commodities coupled with fuel shortage had made living there difficult.

She saw news that Lankans were risking their lives and fleeing to India. The woman said she had sold all the household articles to arrange for the money needed to illegally sail to India. The boatman dropped her in knee deep water (hip high for the little boy) about half a kilometre off the shore on Wednesday. The family walked to the shore.

Alerted by the local fisherfolk, the marine police picked the trio for questioning. They were quizzed by other intelligence agencies. The family said that they had no relatives in India.

As many as 42 people from 11 families have sailed from Sri Lanka to Dhanushkodi due to the deepening economic crisis in that country.