India Today's Pramod Madhav travelled to Katchatheevu, the disputed island 25 km from Rameswaram. The island, under Sri Lankan control since 1974, is accessible to Indians only once a year for St. Anthony's Church festival. Tamil Nadu fishermen claim the island is crucial for their livelihood and allege harassment by the Sri Lankan Navy when fishing nearby.
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00:00Let's get you now an India Today exclusive. We've been seeing for the last many many years
00:05the crisis historically between Indian fishermen and of course the Sri Lankan Navy and particularly
00:12over the island of Kachatheva. This has become of course a big talking point it was one of the
00:17biggest talking points during the general elections in 2024 as well and now for the
00:22first time they're showing you what exactly is does this island look like why is it such a big
00:28bone of contention. India Today's Pramod Madhav travelled to Kachatheva to seek more answers
00:33and show our viewers the ground reality.
00:45Historically in Tamil Nadu the landmass is divided into Kurinji, Mullai, Marudham,
00:51Nethal and Palai of which Nethal means the land that is near to the sea and the people who live
00:57over here. Yes we are at Rameshwaram and we are here to find out the certain things about one
01:03island which is just 25 kilometers from this particular island called as Kachatheva and yes
01:09behind us you see the famous railway bridge which is attaching Rameshwaram to the mainland
01:14and why this particular Kachatheva is a very important a strategical point for the fishermen
01:20from Tamil Nadu and the fishermen from Sri Lanka and why it has become
01:25an issue for decades that has not been resolved so far.
01:36That is a sea shimmering with the sunshine and this is where the fishermen leave from this
01:42particular port at Rameshwaram. We have reached the Rameshwaram fishing port and from here we
01:47could easily see at least 1000 fishing boats which are now being packed by devotees who want
01:53to reach Kachatheva. Remember only once a year Indians are allowed to reach Kachatheva an island
02:01which is generally out of hands even for Indian fishermen to go to that spot and this one year
02:07people are allowed to go there and it's expected at least 8000 people will reach Kachatheva for
02:13one day alone.
02:27And after a delay of eight hours we are inside the boat and our next destination
02:31would be Kachatheva. In fact let me just show you the amount of boats you see over here. These are
02:36the mechanized boats that are at Rameshwaram fishermen port and their biggest concern is not
02:42a raging sea but the Sri Lankan navy and that is why Kachatheva has become a very big issue
02:48where the Tamil fishermen especially from Rameshwaram claim that they need Kachatheva back
02:53as they are harassed every single time they venture into the sea and there is no other way
02:58for them to survive because these are the people from the natal area which means the sea and sea
03:04surrounding space and all they know is fishing. For thousands of years they've been fishing and
03:09they claim that without Kachatheva an important strategical point what they are facing is the
03:15Sri Lankan navy claiming that they have crossed the international maritime border made to pay
03:20hefty fines, abused, attacked, bullied and also boats seized along with the fishermen
03:28thrown into the prison. This atrocity from the Sri Lankan navy, the abuse, the bullying
03:36and he has to face it every time he goes near Kachatheva or anywhere over that spot to fish
03:41and he says that like he wants the state and the center to help them in one way. On
03:49August of 2024 he was arrested along with eight other people. Kingston was on
03:56one such boat with these nets and he was fishing but they had gone to a space where they did not
04:00know if they have crossed the maritime border or not and this is when they were surrounded and
04:04arrested and we are less than a kilometer away from Kachatheva over there is our destination but
04:09before that the last step is over there that is a Sri Lankan coast guard to whom we have to go and
04:15report say what is the condition of the boat how many people are there and such and Sri Lankan
04:20navy is like as you could see is all ready and we have to be very careful while approaching them
04:25and once they give the clearance from there towards the right you see Kachatheva and that
04:31is our destination and after several hours of scrutiny checking and such we have finally
04:38almost reached Kachatheva yes step by step we are showing where Kachatheva is because
04:43the situation and the kind of like work we had to put through to reach the spot is humongous and
04:49that's why we are showing it as we nearing it India today showing you Kachatheva on Bay of Bengal
04:56on a boat that belongs to a Rameshwaram fisherman this is Kachatheva the thing the
05:02island that you see over here a place where now everything is today there is a festival
05:08a Christian church festival a feast but this is the only day anybody from India can freely go to
05:14that particular island however the fishermen of Rameshwaram demand that it should be retreated
05:20because they claim that it is very essential for their life and their livelihood unfortunately
05:27it is with Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka is not ready to hand it over anytime it's just 25 kilometers
05:33away from mainland India Rameshwaram but this spot is a coveted island which now is with Sri
05:40Lanka and is this spot where no one can step that easy however India today scripts history
05:47by reaching Kachatheva yes the island is with Sri Lanka since 1974 you could see evidently how
05:54it has been shown over here with Sri Lankan flags all over and most of this island is restricted
06:00area on one end Sri Lanka is not ready to give up this particular landmass
06:09and we have entered Kachatheva after a lot of scrutinizing and checking and this is how Kachatheva
06:13looks this is the terrain of Kachatheva inside now we already showed you the shore and this is
06:18how it is a good forest place a lot of bushes and such but this is just one image because we could
06:23see a lot of movement of the armed forces over here in fact behind us also you could see the
06:28various level of checkpoints you have for various people like they have VVIP passes VIP passes
06:33Indian Sri Lankans and various like you know Sri Lankans and Indians so that way they have been
06:37segregated and even after extreme checking only you are allowed inside this particular place
06:42one day of the year all because of St. Anthony's church festival people are allowed but that is
06:47also not easy access you have to go through various levels of checking before entering this plot
06:52interestingly drones are not allowed so that is how Sri Lankan government is handling and
06:58maintaining Kachatheva
07:12is
07:33a portion of this endless sea which you see behind me is what the fishermen of Rameshwaram
07:39on one side the political discourse blame game is still on fishermen claim that all they have to do
07:44in Rameshwaram it's just an island is that they are dependent on fishing and they have to go to
07:49the sea no matter what what kind of threat they face imagine they claim that they are not worried
07:54about a cyclone but they are worried about the Sri Lankan army and they claim that this is a
07:58situation they face and that is why they want a solution to it however we are here at Kachatheva
08:05India today is at Kachatheva showing you this beautiful emerald sea behind me