A FERRY FROM TAMIL NADU TO JAFFNA, ONCE AGAIN
18 Oct 2023 6 mins Download PDF
Why in the News?
Recently, 50 people boarded a ferry, Cheriyapani, from Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu to cross the Palk Strait and travel to Kankesanthurai in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
The ferry from Tamil Nadu to Jaffna:
- The maritime service which was begun in the early 1900s, was discontinued in the 1980s due to ethnic strife in Sri Lanka.
- Both the countries planned for reactivating the sea route for more than 12 years.
- India and Sri Lanka signed an MoU for sea connectivity in 2011 and a ferry service between Tuticorin and Colombo began the same year, however, it was discontinued because of logistical reasons in less than 6 months.
- The new ferry service shall take about 3.5 hours to travel 110 km from Cheriyapani to Jaffna.
- The sea-route rejuvenation shall also provide robust commerce between India and Sri Lanka, and encourage people-to-people contact between the two neighbours.
- India’s Neighbourhood First policy has located India-Sri Lanka ties that emphasised maritime connectivity, including the development of ports at Colombo, Kankesanthurai and Trincomalee and the revival of sea routes.
- Cheriyapani is also likely to bring pilgrims to religious centres in southern Sri Lanka and temple towns in south India.
- The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) will operate the ferry service
Combating China’s influence:
- China is Sri Lanka’s biggest bilateral creditor and has roped in the country in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
- Delhi has sought to counter Beijing’s influence in the island natio through initiatives such as:
- Providing $4-billion aid package
- Enhancing civilisational aspects of its ties with Colombo in terms of movement of people and ideas over centuries.
- Launch of ferry services between Nagapattinam and SrilLanka’s Kankesanthurai.
- Direct flights between Delhi and Colombo were launched in 2015.
- The direct flight between Chennai and Jaffna began in 2019
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