Katchatheevu Continues To Haunt DMK, TN House Passes Resolution For Its Retrieval

More than half a century after the tiny rocky islet Katchatheevu in the Palk Strait was ceded to Sri Lanka, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a unanimous resolution demanding the Union government to retrieve it so as to protect the livelihood and traditional rights of Indian fishermen and secure the release of fishers still incarcerated in the island nation.

- Statesman News Service

CHENNAI, 2 APRIL

The resolution moved by Chief Minister MK Stalin received the support of all parties, including the BJP. Floor leaders of all parties spoke on retrieving the islet to protect the fishermen from being harassed and arrested by the island nation's Navy, which also impounded their boats.

The 285-acre barren uninhabited islet, which has a shrine to St Antony in the strategic Palk Strait, was ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 in exchange for the marine and hydrocarbon-rich Wadge Bank down Kannyakumari. The issue continues to haunt the ruling DMK, as the party was in power under M Karunanidhi at the time.