Nedunthivu residents without proper transport to mainland

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 May 2004, 10:13 GMT]
Residents of Nedunthivu, one of the islets in the Jaffna peninsula have been agitating for a better passenger boat service for travelling to the Jaffna mainland as the "Kumudhini" mechanized boat has gone out of order for the last eight months. Privately owned two small boats now plying between Nedunthivu and the mainland could not stand up to the rough sea following the change of monsoon, civil sources said.

The passenger boat service run by the Nedunthivu co-operative society is also not regular due to frequent breakdown. Residents depend on the two small boats run by two individuals, sources said.

Due to the change of monsoon sea has become rough and the owners of small boats have reduced the number of passengers from 65 to 35 causing delays for the travelers between Nedunthivu and mainland, residents said.

Earlier the Road Development Authority ran the "Kumudhini" passenger boat service between Nedunthivu and Jaffna mainland.

Now the RDA is keeping silent on this issue, residents complained.

Several civic organizations in Nedunthivu have jointly submitted a memorandum to the Jaffna Government Agent to intervene iand to organize a regular passenger boat service between Nedunthivu and mainland, sources said.