So far, 16 refugees have arrived in the state as the island nation is facing its worst economic crisis

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday said that his government is in touch with the Centre to legally handle the influx of refugees from Sri Lanka, reported PTI.

“The Tamil Nadu government will strive to ensure a new dawn to the Lankan Tamils,” he told the state Assembly.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948 and several citizens of the country are fleeing the island nation.

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Henri Tiphagne, executive director of human rights organisation People’s Watch, told The News Minute that booking the refugees and putting them in prison amounts to human rights violations.

“I have been closely working with Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees, who fled the ethnic conflict in the 1990s,” Tiphagne said. “They were put up in the Mandapam camps, and fed, their children were sent to schools and they were allowed to work. The state government even set up a State Bank of India counter for the migrants to exchange their currency to the Indian rupee.”

He alleged that the manner in which the Tamil Nadu government was treating the refugees now was drastically different.