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New governor, new fact-finding committee on Kilinochchi floods
View(s):A new fact-finding committee has been appointed to probe the recent destructive floods in the Kilinochchi district. The three-member committee was appointed by the new Northern Province Governor Dr Suren Raghavan soon after he took office. The committee will be headed by engineer S. Ragunathan.
The committee has been instructed to conclude its probe and submit a report in three weeks, L. Ilaangovan, Secretary to the Governor told the Sunday Times. Mr. Ilaangovan, though, declined to comment on the scope of the committee, only stating that it was a fact-finding mission to look into the reasons for the flooding.
Former Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray had earlier appointed a similar fact-finding committee soon after the floods. That committee was headed by Prof. S. Sivakumar of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Jaffna. That committee was to look into whether negligence on the part of provincial irrigation department officials contributed to the flood situation.
Prof’s Sivakumar’s committee, however, was suspended almost immediately on instructions from the Governor’s office before it could start its probe. Mr Ilaangovan told the Sunday Times that the decision to suspend the committee was taken as Prof. Sivakumar had made certain public statements deemed prejudicial.