In Frames | Troubled waters

The economic crisis in Sri Lanka is forcing families to risk a boat ride through choppy seas to Tamil Nadu

On April 10, a group of 10 Sri Lankans, including two children and three women, were left high and dry by Sri Lankan fishermen on an islet near Arichalmunai. Shivering and surrounded by lapping waves in the twilight hours, they waited for the day to break and then they were rescued by the local fishermen and the police.

On June 16, seven Sri Lankans, including four children, began a perilous journey to escape the economic crisis besieging the Island nation. These people were lucky for early next morning, they landed in Dhanushkodi. From here, they were picked up by the police, and on completion of preliminary enquiries, they found a roof over their head at the refugee camp in Mandapam.

So far, 90 people have taken the same choppy sea route to reach India in small batches from March 22. For all these families, mostly from northern Jaffna and Mannar district of Sri Lanka, the spiralling prices of essential commodities were the trigger that forced them to risk their lives. Even to make this illegal journey, they had to give a few lakhs of rupees to boatmen who helped them escape.

For most Sri Lankan Tamils, leading a secure and peaceful life has always been an elusive dream. Right from the 1980s to 2009, there has been waves of migration as thousands fled the country during the civil war. From 2002, when a lengthy ceasefire began, to February 2022, 17,933 Sri Lankan refugees came voluntarily to India.

But from 2012, India has not granted the status of refugee to those arriving from Sri Lanka. As a result, these illegal migrants are now housed in 113 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu and are dependent on the dole being provided by the State government. In August 2021, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin increased the monthly cash dole to the head of each family living in rehabilitation camps from ₹1,000 to ₹1,500. Along with this monetary aid, they have been provided basic needs.

But as a police official said that during inquiry most of these illegal migrants reveal that before leaving Sri Lanka, they had sold their immoveable and moveable properties with the intention of remaining in Tamil Nadu permanently. A dream that they hope to realise without the refugee tag