All the 2,229 pilgrims, including 369 women, 66 children and lone transpersons, returned safely after taking part in the two-day annual St. Antony’s Church festival and offering worship in Katchatheevu islet on Saturday.
The pilgrims who sailed for the festival on Friday morning in 64 mechanised boats and 15 ‘vallams’ (country boats) returned after taking part in the Feast mass, marking the end of the two-day festival. The first batch of pilgrims arrived around 11.30 am at Rameswaram fishing jetty and the last batch around 4.15 pm, officials said.
“The pilgrimage went off well and no untoward incident was reported,” Superintendent of Police Omprakash Meena said. Customs and immigration officials spent some anxious moments when a pilgrim from Bengaluru failed to return in a mechanised boat but heaved a sigh of relief after he returned in the last boat.
The Indian Coat Guard (ICG) and the Marine police of the Coastal Security Group (CSG) escorted the pilgrims back to the fishing jetty after the Sri Lankan navy handed them over at the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). The immigration, customs and security agencies checked and cleared the pilgrims at the jetty. The officials briefly detained few pilgrims who had bought fish cutting knives and some liquor bottles before clearing them, sources said.
“Everything went off well and the Jaffna Diocese, which organised the festival made good arrangements for the Indian pilgrims,” Rev Fr Devesahayam, Rameswaram- Verkodu parish priest and chief coordinator of the pilgrimage, who accompanied the pilgrims, said.
The festival began with the ‘Way of the Cross’ procession on Friday evening, jointly taken out by Indian and about 6,500 Sri Lankan pilgrims. After overnight stay in the uninhabited islet, the pilgrims took part in the mass and offered worship on Saturday morning. The Mass was conducted in Tamil and Sinhala languages. The Tamil mass was conducted by Rev Fr Joseph Lourduraj of India while Sinhala Mass by Rev Fr Robinson Wijesinghe. Rev Justin Gnanapragasam, Bishop of Jaffna.
S. Balachandran, Indian Council General in Jaffna, and Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Chief of Defence Staff, were present.