Sri Lanka Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda has slammed India’s experts and fishermen who dubbed Sri Lanka "irresponsible"of  over a project to submerge discarded vehicles in the sea to create an artificial reef.

On June 11, the fisheries and aquatic resources department and the Sri Lankan Navy submerged 20 degraded and discarded bus bodies near the Delft Island in the northern waters as a way to help create artificial reefs conducive to the marine environment.

This enraged fishermen from the southern Indian state Tamil Nadu, who condemned the project saying it will affect their livelihood. They also expressed fears that the vehicles could drift underwater, and get deposited at the bottom of Indian waters across the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).

Devananda, however, told Daily Mirror that the concerns raised by the Indian fishermen were false and wondered why they were so concerned when India too had created such artificial reefs using discarded vehicles.

He said such a project would in fact create a breeding ground for marine life and noted that 40 countries including the United States had carried out such projects successfully.

“It is unfair for fishermen from India to call us irresponsible over this. Such complaints have the backing of some vested parties but the Fisheries Department will continue with this project and ignore such baseless complaints,” Devananda said.

(SAM)