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TAFREN to deploy officials in tsunami-hit areas
The Task Force to Rebuild the Nation (TAFREN) is to deploy full-time representatives in each of the tsunami-affected districts from next month to ensure speedy implementation of rehabilitation work, its chairman Mano Tittawella said.

Tittawella has begun making field visits to all the districts and has been to Jaffna as well as Mullaithivu where he met, among others, LTTE representatives.

Mr. Tittawella said he hoped to visit the affected areas almost every six weeks with officials from TAFREN, Treasury, housing and education sectors and hold meetings with government officials, civic society representatives, NGOs and tsunami victims.

“They are very enlightening meetings because there are problems which are unique to the regions which we don’t know in Colombo. We think everything is going fine,” Mr. Tittawella said.

“For me, there are nine tsunami-affected districts. I don’t take into consideration whether it is an LTTE area or not – for me everybody is the same.

“The same thing happens in Jaffna and Mullaithivu – we met the GA, the LTTE people, the UNICEF representatives, the Triple R people. I’m not interested in their political agendas. My interest is how to get assistance as soon as possible to the people who were devastated by the tsunami.

It’s a humanitarian thing. They are very supportive. They are happy to work through the GAs but obviously like the P-TOMS to be activated and are disappointed it was held back. But that doesn’t stop them – houses are being built, they come up with their own problems.

Their problems are very similar to those in the south.” In all visits to the districts TAFREN works with the GA. “That’s TAFREN’s contact point. GAs are the chief executives of the districts. Everything we do goes through the GAs,” said Tittawella.

Mr. Tittawella said that in the initial stages TAFREN was seen as an organization in Colombo which was very “aloof” but added: “That’s changing now.” “By next month we’ll have a full time TAFREN representative working in each district. We’re just recruiting them. Of course you must understand that initially we had to spend time here on planning but now it is time to go to the ground.”

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