Chennai

The arrival of four new Sri Lankan Tamil refugees on Thursday has brought the total number of refugees who reached Indian shores after the economic crisis in Sri Lanka to 96.

As the state government and Centre are going soft on the refugees, they are not being produced before a magistrate and are remanded in judicial custody for arriving in a foreign country without any documents.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had written to the Union government to allow the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are reaching Indian shores to be provided with shelter at the refugee camps in the state. The central government has also not taken an antagonistic position on this issue.

The state government officials who are in charge of the Mandapam refugee camp for Sri Lankan Tamils told IANS that the space in the camp is getting filled up fast and that a new camp has to be established.

It is to be noted that Tamil Nadu has more than 1, 50,00 refugees following the civil war in the island nation, and the present migration is considered minuscule when compared to the earlier one.

With the refugees arriving slowly but steadily on the shores of Tamil Nadu, the government is contemplating a new camp not far away from Mandapam with more space.

The central intelligence agencies have, however, warned the state government of the possibility of certain hardened elements of the LTTE reaching the shores of Tamil Nadu under the guise of refugees. The police is scrutinizing the antecedents of all the refugees who are reaching the Indian shores.

The Marine Coastal police of the Tamil Nadu government and the Indian Coast Guard are monitoring the presence of suspicious persons and boats in the sea to prevent the arrival of any unwanted elements on Indian shores.