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India has indicated that it is open to the idea of resumption of passenger ship services between its southern ports and Sri Lanka.
Last Monday, Union Minister for Shipping Ved Prakash Goyal met a Sri Lankan delegation in Tuticorin after which he announced that a passenger service between the neighbours across the sea was in the offing.
India and Sri Lanka have enjoyed close bilateral ties through people to people contact and trade relations for ages.
The sea link was a popular means to transport men and material between southern India and Sri Lanka.
However, some time after India got independence, a flare-up resulted in discontinuation of the shipping services.
Two decades back, both countries decided to revive this link and a passenger jetty was built in Tuticorin port for the purpose.
However, the idea was dropped after ethnic strife broke out in Sri Lanka, between Tamils and the Sinhalese.
The jetty is now being used as a work shop.
Chairman of Ceylon Shipping Corporation Ltd A J M Muzammil, who led the Sri Lankan delegation, said they were keen to resume the link and start passenger services as early as August.
He sought appropriate infrastructure - passenger amenities, berths, jetties, customs, immigration services - to enable resumption of passenger services.
Chairman of the Tuticorin Port Trust N K Raghupathy is open to the proposal.
However, 'until we know the size and weight of the ship we cannot start work on the berths. We have berths for three kinds of drafts," he said.
Raghupathy said that while he has received enquiries from two Sri Lankan operators to bring in ships, not a single Indian operator has evinced interest.
He said one of the operators had discussed a big ship carrying 750 passengers, which would require a 7-metre draft, while the other had a smaller ship in mind.
He said Tuticorin port had a depth of 10.7-metre.
It is pertinent to note that over 100,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who cannot afford the air fare back home, are based in relief camps in Tamil Nadu.
The air fare from Thiruvananthapuram, the closest airport, to Colombo is Rs 3000 while the fare by a ship from Tuticorin will be Rs 1500 rupees.
Naturally, they are awaiting the resumption of shipping services with baited breath.
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