Opinion A ferry from Tamil Nadu to Jaffna, once again

Last Saturday, 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 maritime service, begun in the early 1900s, was discontinued in the 1980s in the wake of ethnic strife in Sri Lanka. Reactivating the sea route had been on the agenda of governments of both countries 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 that year. It was discontinued in less than six months, because of logistical reasons. Cheriyapani will take about 3.5 hours to travel 110 km. The sea-route rejuvenation will give a much-needed fillip to commerce between India and Sri Lanka, and encourage people-to-people contact between the two neighbours.

The Narendra Modi government has located India-Sri Lanka ties within its Neighbourhood First policy. In July, during Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India, the two governments came out with a vision document that emphasised maritime connectivity, including the development of ports at Colombo, Kankesanthurai and Trincomalee and the revival of sea routes. Besides improving business ties between the Indian Ocean neighbours, Cheriyapani is likely to bring pilgrims to religious centres in southern Sri Lanka and temple towns in south India.

Advertisement

In recent decades, Beijing has loomed large over Delhi-Colombo ties. China is Sri Lanka’s biggest bilateral creditor and has roped in the island nation in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Besides a $4-billion aid package, Delhi has sought to counter Beijing’s influence by underlining the civilisational aspects of its ties with Colombo, that involved the movement of people and ideas over centuries. It is significant, therefore, that the ferry service was launched a day before President Wickremesinghe left for China for a BRI meet. However, there are early concerns that at more than Rs 7,600, the one-way ticket is priced a little too steep, and booking facilities are not available on popular tourist portals. The government must address these worries and remove the glitches. It must also expedite resumption of the Rameshwaram-Talaimannar ferry service, mooted during President Wickremesinghe’s visit.