Christmas light for Jaffna

By Nadia Fazlulhaq

As an immediate follow up to the visit by a high level Government delegation to the Jaffna peninsula on Thursday, uninterrupted power supply to the peninsula has been restored starting Friday and steps have been taken to ease the living conditions of the people in the area as well.

The delegation met with people in the area and heard representations from them on the problems they face and promised to take steps to solve their problems. In a press communiqué the Presidential Secretariat said electricity generators and equipment needed to provide continuous power supply had been sent to Jaffna.

With the prices of essential items skyrocketing in the peninsula and shortage of food items and medicines, the Government has also decided to send food and medical supplies and other essential items by air.

“A load of essential medical supplies was airlifted to Jaffna on Saturday from the Ratmalana airport. This was the sequel to a decision taken when the Government delegation visited Jaffna,” a senior official of the Essential Services Commission said.Among the items were 2500 tins of Nestomalt, 250 tins of Sustagen, 2,800 large bottles of Marmite, 1,000,000 tabs of Panadol and 1000 bottles of baby Panadol, 10,000 eggs, 10,000 kg of Golden Cow, 10,000kg of cream cracker (normal) and 10,000 kg of cream crackers (kurakkan).

Meanwhile plans are being made to transport vegetables and other cultivations grown in Jaffna to the other parts of the country. A programme to transport tobacco, red onions and other crops from Jaffna to Colombo has already been implemented. Meanwhile Social Services Minister Douglas Devananda has decided to re-open the CWE shop in Jaffna. This decision was taken after discussions with CWE workers whose services had been terminated. By re-opening the Jaffna CWE shop the hard-hit people in Jaffna will be able to buy essential, good quality commodities at reasonable prices.

On Thursday the 61 member delegation held a meeting with government officials in Jaffna and NGO’s regarding the present situation of Jaffna.