Jayalalithaa asks PM to suspend ferry service to Colombo
June 14, 2011 04:23 pm
A day after a ferry service from Tuticorin to Colombo was flagged off, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Tuesday asked the central government to suspend it, saying her government was not consulted on the move.
Submitting a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, copies of which were released to the media in Chennai, Jayalalithaa said the ferry service has been resumed at a most inopportune time. The service was suspended in 1983.
"The Tamil Nadu legislative assembly has recently passed a resolution urging the Government of India to initiate action by working with other nations for the imposition of an economic embargo on the Government of Sri Lanka, until the Tamils who are now living in camps are resettled in their own places and are allowed to live with dignity and with equal constitutional rights on par with the Sinhalese," the memorandum noted.
According to the memorandum, as the resolution was well accepted by the people of Tamil Nadu, resumption of the ferry service between Tuticorin and Colombo will not be advisable and it will be against the sentiments of the people.
Flagging of the ferry service Monday, union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan
said the government is working on resuming the ferry service between Rameswaram
and Talaimannar
that was discontinued in the 1980s.
The ferry service will leave for Colombo on Mondays and Fridays while the return service from Colombo will be on Wednesdays and Sundays, IANS reports.
