Jaffna, an agrarian district and a large middle class population, has transformed to a motor bicycle-owing society from the once, traditional bicycle - thanks to massive inflows of cash from the Tamil Diaspora.
Society here is also blaming the Diaspora for making Jaffna residents lazy. For example, a university student goes to her campus, just 500 metres away from her home, by motor-bike.
Before the civil war broke out in and around 1983 each house had a bicycle (probably the Raleigh brand) as the main form of transportation, with an average one motor-bike per village.
With little or no fuel during a substantial part of the conflict in the north, residents used bicycles to travel everywhere. Business persons travelled up to Thandikulam, more than 70km from Jaffna by bicycle while all government officers and students also used bicycles for their daily transport.
The late Jaffna University Vice Chancellor S. Thurairajah also went to work on a bicycle from Point Pedro, 32 km away from Jaffna town.
Now, since the conflict ended, each house has an average two motor-bikes in Jaffna. All the business places are also using motor-bikes instead of bicycles.Jaffna District Motor Traffic Commissioner P. Jayaharan said 60,036 motor bikes were registered in Jaffna last year. Easily more than 10 % of the population owns a motor bike in Jaffna. Car sales are also increasing in Jaffna now.
Before 2009, there was no car showroom in Jaffna with a few cars used by some lawyers, school principals, doctors and other VIP's. Anyone seeking to purchase a brand new car, had to go to Colombo to purchase the car. Now two car showrooms are available in Jaffna.
Ceylon Petroleum Corporation authorities said fuel consumption compared to earlier has doubled in Jaffna compared to earlier.
"Those days the people of Jaffna worked hard and lived economically, spending their money on essential things only. Today Jaffna youth enjoy life with Diaspora money, and are becoming lazy," one resident noted. |
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