High cost of commodities drives 10 more Lankan Tamils to Dhanushkodi

With the price of sugar touching 300 Sri Lankan rupees (SLR) per kilogram, rice selling at 250 SLR and joblessness reaching new heights, 10 more Sri Lankan Tamils reached Naduthurai islet near Dhanushkodi in Ramanathapuram district in the small hours of Saturday, said a news report published by The Hindu yesterday.

It said: Speaking to reporters at Mandapam Marine Police Station, R. Pushpam (64) from Mullai Theevu in Sri Lanka said she was working as a daily wage earner. After the economic crisis started in the island nation, things turned for the worse. “There was no job. Hence, I could not get any wages. Without money, I could not buy essential commodities,” she claimed.

“Whenever I got a job in the seas, the wage earned was insufficient even to buy 100 grams of sugar as a kg is sold at 300 SLR. With my 43-year-old son, who is suffering from mental disorder, life was miserable. Hence, I sold some valuables and paid 50,000 SLR with great difficulty to the boatmen who dropped us here,” Pushpam added.

Another refugee, R. Justin (42) from Jaffna district, said prior to the economic crisis, at least jobs were assured for them, though the prices of essential commodities were high. “With no work now, feeding the family and the dependents has become a big challenge. At least if we reach Dhanushkodi, we were told, food and shelter would be taken care of,” he said.

With a three-month-old baby, he and his wife Ausiya decided to sell her silverware and a small gold chain to a pawnbroker. “We managed to pay to the boatmen who brought us to Naduthurai islet from Sri Lanka in about two hours,” he said.

The Marine Police identified the refugees as M. Jeyakumar from Mannar district (45), his wife Yogeshwari (42), daughters Tamilmathi (22) and Kanimathi (15); R. Pushpam (64) and her son Prabakar (43) from Mullai Theevu; R. Justin (42), his wife Ausiya (31) and children Ansika (3) and Anjithan (3 months).

After screening, the police handed them over to the officials at Mandapam Rehabilitation Centre. With this team, there are 199 refugees at the centre, while one aged woman died about a month ago, the officials said.