Manalkadu residents boycott meeting on sand excavation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 16:32 GMT]
Residents of Manalkadu village in Vadamaramarchchi division in Jaffna district boycotted a meeting summoned by the Vadamarachchi east Divisional Secretary Mr.V.P.Velauthampillai and held at the public library building Sunday to discuss the crisis related to removing sea sand from the village for construction purposes in the peninsula, sources said.

Only village level officers (Grama Sevaka officers) of the area and police officials were present at the meeting. Not a single resident of Manalkadu was present at the conference. The meeting ended without taking any decision, sources said.

The entire sea sand needed for construction in the district is obtained from Manalkadu village. About five hundred lorries and tractors remove sea sand daily from Manalkadu to other areas. Hence civil activists in the area fear that sand resources in the village would diminish in coming months.

The residents are protesting against the sand being removed from the village and complain that the village is neglected in the development of its roads and electricity supply to its residents.