Spanish Red Cross assists Trinco returnees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2003, 18:48 GMT]
The Spanish Red Cross (SRC), with the assistance of Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) and funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), Wednesday began distributing agricultural inputs and implements to the returnees and war affected communities in the Trincomalee district, sources said.

SRC delegate, Ms. Maite Garcia Manzano, supervised the distribution with the assistance of the Trincomalee branch of the SLRC at Chenaiyoor in Muttur east, controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Forty farmers were issued with seed paddy, vegetable seeds, axe, mammoties, water can, sickle, GI buckets, knives, sprayers and fertilizer. About 1325 agricultural families have been selected in the Trincomalee district under this scheme.

Under this scheme till October 11 four hundred farmers who do paddy cultivation and two hundred farmers who do cash crop cultivation would be supplied with agricultural inputs and implements, SRC sources said.




Local farmers stop threshing harvested paddy crops on the main road junction when the Spanish Red Cross lorry load relief articles enters the village. The threshing is done on the road junction as rain has flooded the threshing floor in the paddy field


Addressing the gathering, Ms. Maite Garcia Manzano said that main aim of the project is to restore normalcy in the lives of returnees and war affected communities by providing assistance to restart their cultivation and fishing in their areas, thus strengthening their economy, sources said.

The ECHO funded project is being implemented in five districts of the northeastern province: Vavuniya, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

Mr.K.Selvaratnam, the SLRC's Muttur branch president said it is a timely help given to affected farmers who need assistance to do their cultivation as they lost everything during their displacement, sources said.

The Project Director Mr.T.Sithtiravelu also spoke.




SLRC Muttur branch President Mr.K.Selvaretnam and Spanish Red Cross delegate Ms. Maite Garcia Manzano hand over relief articles to a returnee farmer in Chenaiyoor





A section of the women returnees who gathered at the site to get their relief articles





A woman returns home with relief articles