Chennai: The Tamilnadu government has denied a charge by Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying L Murugan that the State was not proactive on the issue of 23 fishermen from Tamil Nadu held by the Sri Lankan Navy.
State Minister of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Anitha R Radhakrishnan said that the State government had taken up the issue with the Ministry concerned and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Stating that Murugan’s complaint with regard to the fishermen was completely wrong, Radhakrishnan said Chief Minister M K Stalin had also written to the Union Minister for External Affairs to initiate action to release the two fishermen on 20 October.
He added that he too had taken up the issue with Murugan through a letter on the same day.
Earlier, Murugan said the Ministry of External Affairs was in touch with Sri Lanka. He charged the Tamilnadu government with not being proactive.
‘The Ministry had asked for the complete details of these fishermen. But they were not given till 25 October. This lackadaisical attitude on the part of the Tamilnadu government is leading to delays in getting them released.’