Self employment help benefits low income Mutur residents

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 December 2002, 01:03 GMT]
Low income residents of Mutur living below poverty line were given bicycles, sewing machines and water pumps that enhanced their income earning potential, in a function held at Chenaiyoor Central College in Muttur east Thursday as part of the World Bank funded North East Integrated Agricultural Project (NEIAP), sources said.

LTTE Trinco Education head Ms. Karoonja opening community center

Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE Mr.Tilak said that there are doubts in some people's mind whether NEIAP has been successful in its mission. But no one can deny that NEIAP development programme was instrumental in the restoration of large number of minor tanks in the Muttur east area which has allowed cultivation of paddy in several hundred acres of land, he added.

Sewing machines and other tools are given on loan to improve the economic standing of poor families through self-employment. People who borrow these implements should repay their loans in time enabling others who wait for such loans to enjoy the same facilities, Mr.Tilak stressed.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) national list parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham addressing the gathering said, "From the date of country gained independence Tamils started losing their political rights in their traditional homeland."

LTTE Trinco Political head Mr. Tilak handing over a new bicycle

The international community and Sri Lanka hardliners in the South were surprised when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) announced that they are prepared to consider regional autonomy with self-determination as an alternative to a separate state, he added.

"Sri Lanka's governments of the past consistently ignored the call by moderate Tamil leadership to find a political settlement to problems confronted by Tamils in the country. They did not understand the language of the Tamil leadership. Only when the Tamil youths were forced to take up arms to win their rights, the South began to understand the reality," said Mr.Thurairatnesingham.

Today Tamils live with self-respect and courage not only in this country but also internationally due to the sacrifice the Liberation Tigers made in the battlefied, he added.

Mr.A.Nadarajah, Mutur Divisional Secretary presided. At the commencement Mr.Thurairatnesingham declared open the newly built Community Centre building.

Section of attendees to NEIAP function