Katkovalam fisherman say SLA retarding trade

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 July 2004, 17:03 GMT]
Fishermen of Katkovalam, a coastal village south of Pt. Pedro in Jaffna, Monday complained that a Sri Lanka army (SLA)checkpoint at their beach market is scuttling sales.

The SLA point was set up three months ago but was stopped in late June after local fishermen lodged a protest with the SLA officer in charge of the general area of Katkovalam.

The SLA point resumed registering everyone going to the beach market from Monday.

Katkovalam fishermen say that the checkpoint would drastically affect their incomes because traders from outside Katkovalam are discouraged from coming to the market by the inordinate delays caused at the SLA point.