The economic crisis in Sri Lanka is now turning into a humanitarian crisis.
Sri Lankan families have begun to leave their country and are reaching Indian shores illegally, due to the acute shortage of essential supplies and skyrocketing inflation in Sri Lanka.
Since Tuesday, a total of 16 Sri Lankan citizens have reached India by boat. He has been detained by Tamil Nadu Marine Police.
Attempted asylum in India for the second time
The first group of Sri Lankan nationals reached Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu in the early hours of Tuesday. It included three adults and three children from two families from Jaffna and Mannari.
One of them, 27-year-old Gajendran, who worked as a painter in Jaffna, said that he had come to India during the final stages of the civil war and lived in a Sri Lankan refugee camp in Tamil Nadu.
Subsequently, a second group comprising 10 people - five adults and five children - reached Dhanushkodi on Tuesday night from Vavuniya in Sri Lanka.
'Stuck in the sea for 37 hours
35-year-old Sivarathinam is a fisherman by profession. He is among the 10 people who reached Dhanushkodi from Vavuniya.
He said that he started his journey on Monday morning. Along with him his wife, sister, brother-in-law, and their three children also reached India in a fishing boat.
"About two hours after we started our voyage, our boat's engine failed in the middle of the sea, leaving us stranded without food or water for almost 37 hours," he said.
After much effort, he got the engine fixed and reached Dhanushkodi late on Tuesday night.
Once he reached India, Tamil Nadu Marine Police officials took him into custody, and cases related to illegal entry were registered against him.
The Sri Lankan nationals are currently lodged at the Dhanushkodi Marine Police Station and will be produced before the Rameswaram Judicial Magistrate Court.
Indian Coast Guard officials say they have intensified their patrols to prevent any illegal entry.
'Taking measures to prevent people from leaving the country'
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Navy officials say they have drawn up a special plan to stop Sri Lankans from arriving in India as refugees.
Navy spokesman Captain Indica de Silva told BBC Tamil Service that they have a system in place to prevent refugees from reaching India. Although it will not be 100% effective, they have been trying to implement it successfully.
He said, "We have started an investigation as to how these people left Sri Lanka and reached India."
the severe economic crisis in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is facing a big economic crisis and due to that, this situation has arisen there.
During the Covid lockdown in March 2020, Sri Lanka's major industries tea, textile, and tourism were badly affected.
After this, this island country, which does not have a stable income source, gradually fell into a financial crisis. At the same time, its forex, which was in the hands of its central bank, is also continuously falling.
As the economic situation went from bad to worse, the prices of essential commodities became historically expensive. Hotels were closed due to a lack of cooking gas, as the major gas suppliers of the state were left with no money to buy gas.
People started queuing in front of shops to buy essential goods and at times there were violent clashes for such items as there was not enough supply for everyone.
However, it is said that in the 1970s, when Sirimavo Bandaranaike was the Prime Minister, there was a famine in Sri Lanka. But some people feel that the current crisis is worse than that.
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