New DIGs take over

Indra de Silva has taken over as DIG (Jaffna) with effect from last Tuesday.

He was earlier DIG Greater Colombo West. He has been succeeded by Jayantha Wickremaratne, DIG.

Camillus Abeygunawardena, DIG (Jaffna) has assumed office as DIG (Wayamba) based in Kurunegala.

Jubilee race today

One Hundred and Thirty cyclists will be flagged off today from Bandarawela at 9.30 a.m. to compete in the 160 k.m. Peace Cycle Tour. This race, which is co-sponsored by Lankadeepa, a Wijeya Publication, and RC&DC Uniroad Traffic Signals, is part of a four-race program to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Independence of Sri Lanka.

The cyclists will start from Bandarawela and ride through rough tracks in the hill country.

The route spreads via Kumbuloluwa, Hali Ela, Taldena, Kandaketiya, Raja Mawatha, Randenigala Dam, Iddamallanda, Anuragama, Gurudeniya, Thannekumbura and Kandy before ending at Gatambe off Peradeniya.

More than Rs 100,000 will be given to good performers, the winner carrying away Rs. 12,000.

All competitors are requested to report at least 3 hours before the starting of the race.

Aranayake cops return

In a new turn of events in the Aranayake Police station affair ten of the transferred Policemen had returned to their former stations, stating that they had been on special duty at the time of the incident, when the thatched house of Dinamina provincial correspondent Pradeep Kumar Dharmaratne was burnt by a terror gang.

Dharmaratne's house was burnt after he exposed the kasippu business in the area. After the exposure he was allegedly beaten up by some Policemen in Aranayake station.

Water and phones will cost you more

Adding to the burden of a sky rocketing cost of living, the Government this week increased water and telephone charges with immediate effect.

Telecommunicatiuons Ministry's Press Secretary said the government had decided to increase the monthly telephone rental charges to Rs. 180, up from Rs. 100.

Telecom is also working out a new unit system, where the time duration of each unit is to be reduced, which ultimately amounts to an increase in telephone rates. However domestic telephone connection rates have been reduced to Rs 10,000 down from Rs. 16,000.

According to a government gazette domestic water rates shot up by Rs. 5 for the first 10,000 litres. The next 10,000-20,000 litres at the rate of 70 cents per 1000 litres, and 20,000 to 30,000 at the rate of 1.50 per 1000 litres. Charges for 30,000 to 50,000 litres were placed at the rate of Rs. 3 per 1000 litres.

The water supply rate for religious institutions has been increased by 50 cents per 1000 litres, while an increase of Rs. 2.50 per 1000 litres will be imposed on government institutions.

Waiting for their turn: only 500 a day Pix by Manoj Ratnayake

Thousands line up for entry, only 500 allowed in daily

By Christopher Kamalendran in Uilankulam

Thousands of people line up outside the barbed wire fences in the scorching sun awaiting their turn to be processed to gain entry into the cleared areas. The scene is the same, thrice a week in the Uilankulam area in the Mannar district, and it was the same at Thandikulam almost 10 months ago.

When "Operation Jaya Sikurui" began leading to the closure of the entry point from Thandikulam, three kilometres away from Vavuniya, all civilians who wanted to enter the cleared areas from the LTTE dominated areas had been directed to go through Uilankulam.

Waiting for their turn: only 500 a day


"For a day we issued more than 500 passes for entry and exit. Unlike in Thandikulam lorries are not permitted to cross over. We allow them to unload goods and reload into other vehicles," a military officer in charge of the checkpoint said.

'The lorries bringing supplies from the uncleared areas are told to park in a no-man's area beyond the checkpoint and transport them by hand-carts upto the checkpoint where all the goods are checked and reloaded onto a different fleet of lorries to Mannar. The goods are kept there for 24 hours before being taken into any other areas thus minimising the chances of bombs and explosives being transported," the officer said.

Unlike Thandikulam where there were regular passengers passing in and out on a daily basis, most of the persons who cross over are displaced persons leaving the uncleared areas.

S. Chithrangani, 24, from Nelliady in Jaffna, who had fled the peninsula after operation 'Riviresa' along with her mother and brother, had been living in Mallawi, an area under the LTTE control in the Wanni region.

She told 'The Sunday Times' she was on her way to Colombo to visit her brother who has been hospitalised.

"At Mallawi food is available, but at a very high price. Living conditions are poor. Many people are infected with diseases, largely malaria. There are no facilities for schooling," she said.

Chithrangani said she was determined to get back to Jaffna after her brother was cured.

Food supplies to the north across the Uilankulam checkpoint seemed to be flowing to the uncleared areas for the civilians, but authorities are not sure whether half the supplies reach the enemy.

"Probably we are the only country that feeds the enemy while fighting him," said, Lt. Col. T.B. Senanayake, who is in charge of civil affairs in the 215 Brigade at Cheddikulam.

The Government continues to maintain restrictions on persons carrying supplies into the uncleared areas.

A military official explaining the reasons for the restrictions said they believed that if additional stocks were allowed into the area supplies would fall into the hands of the LTTE.

A cross section of civilians The Sunday Times interviewed said many of their friends and relatives who wanted to come into the cleared areas were deprived of coming as the security forces do not allow persons without a National Identity Card to enter the cleared areas.

"Even refugees who genuinely want to go back to their homes in Jaffna are not allowed as they do not possess identity cards," an elderly man said.

Meanwhile the government assisted by the security forces will soon launch a programme to resettle thousands of civilians in the Wanni region, including Mannar, under a rehabilitation and resettlement scheme.

At least 100,000 civilians will be resettled in the Omanthai, Olumadu, Madukanda, Chaddikulam, Mannar and Puliyankulam areas in the coming months.

Commander of the 211 Vavuniya Brigade Headquarters, Brigadier Seevali Wanigasekara told The Sunday Times that more than 35,000 civilians who crossed over to Thandikulam and entered Vavuniya after the Operation Jaya Sikurui was launched have been resettled in their original homes in Jaffna and Vavuniya.

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