Road blocks remain in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 December 2002, 21:32 GMT]
Speed barriers and road blocks in Batticaloa district roads are still obstructing traffic in many roads in Batticaloa causing severe hardship to residents in several areas of Batticaloa, sources in the east said. Assurance given by the Sri Lanka military chiefs during the meeting of the Sub-Committee on De-escalation and Normalization held in Vavunathivi 20 October that efforts will be taken to remove these barriers still remains to be fulfilled, sources said.

Most of the road blocks near Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps and police stations in main roads in Batticaloa-Vallaichenai area have been removed, residents said. However, speed barriers in front of Valaichenai Police Station and road blocks near Eravur Police Station are still present causing difficulties to commuters.

Sentry points in many areas include large segments of the paved road, and in many points concrete and steel pillars are constructed preventing vehicular movement through a section of the road.

Speed barriers in front of Eravur Police Station

The section of the Colombo road between Valaichenai and Wellikande which passes through SLA camps remain closed forcing vehicle and civilian traffic to use side roads that are in bad state of repair. Similar situation prevails in Navalady, Meeyankulam, Vahaneri, 4th Mile Post, Pillaiyaradi and Punanai where SLA camps are located in the vicinity of Colombo road.

In Batticaloa-Kalmunai road, the road blocks and speed barriers near the Special Task Force(STF) camps near Puthukudiyiruppu and Kurukal madam, Kaluvanchikudi Police Station and Kallaru Police Check Points continue to obstruct traffic.

Lady Manning Avenue, Lake Road and Urani Road in Batticaloa town also are not yet open for traffic.