The central government will consider Tamil Nadu’s request to grant Indian citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the state, central minister Kiren Rijiju said on Tuesday.

The minister of state for home visited a refugee camp near Chennai and told the media that the central and state governments were taking several measures to promote the welfare of refugees.

Rijiju said the central government would consider the recommendation of the Tamil Nadu government on granting Indian citizenship to the refugees.

A section of the refugees are linked to the now vanquished Tamil Tigers.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the time was not ripe to repatriate the Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka.

He said the conditions in the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka were not conducive for the refugees’ return.

Panneerselvam said that there were 102,055 refugees belonging to 34,524 families in Tamil Nadu. Of this, 64,924 were in 107 refugee camps.

Tamil Nadu is separated from Sri Lanka by a narrow strip of sea.