To travel 30 km from India to Sri Lanka, do I really have to take a 1500 km, 20 hour detour?
- By
- Aparna Patel
- |
- 20 Jul, 2023
- |
If you wish to enter your neighbour’s house, do you jump on to the terrace and climb down the stairs? Certainly not, you enter through the door by ringing the bell and asking for permission to enter.
Same logic applies to a country. Every country has restricted entry and exit points. You require documentation like passport and visa to cross these points. These points could be airports or sea ports or land border crossings.
When applying for a Visa, you have to mention the probable date of travel, the mode of travel and ID of the vehicle used. For air travel, it is the Name and Flight number, for Sea it is the Vessel name and number, for land it is the vehicle make and number.
Crossing into a country through un-authorized means, even if you have valid documentation is downright illegal – this can land you straight into jail.
Therefore please do not attempt such heroics. Use the legal entry points.
NOTE: Both Indian and Sri Lankan Coast Guard keep is tight vigil on the international sea border, to precisely catch such illegal entrants.
Ferry services have stopped. And I do not know if you are still interested in the look out for nearby airports but there is one at Madurai which operates flights to Colombo once or twice a week.
Check out this website where you can book Indien domestic and international flights and it gives you the options.
Madurai is closer to Rameswaram than Tiruchirappalli and Chennai.
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Now, is it in fact illegal, even if I have a visa for Sri Lanka? If
it’s legal, will I still have to find a way to report to both
countries’ authorities about my border crossing?
If you arrive by unconventional means, you will run into the burden of proving the legitimacy of your visit. It is upto you as a traveller to prove you have the right to be in the country and that you have arrived legally and are not violating any laws (for example, by smuggling goods).
One way to do this is to enter via a know port of entry (such as the airport) where the government provides facilities to assist with your legal entry.
If you arrive by boat/fisherman – and then leave by airport, you may be questioned as to why you don’t have an entry stamp (if such a thing is required) and this may lead to many further complications – ranging from a fee to detention and deportation.
Further if you are intercepted by the coast guard, you’ll have to come up with more than a smile to explain what you are doing ferrying across instead of taking the normal route.
If you happen to cross into the territorial waters and are then intercepted, you are effectively an illegal immigrant. The coast guard doesn’t have the authority to validate your visa; so you’ll be taken into custody and then … well, I would just rather not risk it.
Bottom line – take the plane.
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The Tiruchirappalli International Airport is only 3 hours and 55 minutes driving from the place you are stating, so that might be a small improvement. Still, it isn’t optimal, of course.
There are currently no ferry services running between Sri Lanka and India. There have been various proposals (some of which even started running for a short while in 2011, 2012 and 2015) but none of them have lasted. Your best bet is probably to fly from Tiruchirappalli Airport (roughly in the middle of your first screenshot) to Colombo. Sri Lankan fly twice daily from here to Colombo, do this would cut around 4 hours off the drive on your first day but it would by no means be quick. I have no idea if a local fisherman or someone would take you across but if someone can confirm that they do then that might be the best option.
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