Cement rationed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Residents in the village of Kokilakandy, near Navatkuli, 8 km south of Jaffna on the Keratheevu road, are unable to repair their homes due to restrictions on the transport of cement imposed by the Sri Lanka army (SLA), said ex-militant sources in Europe today.

Many houses in Kokilakandy have been damaged by aerial bombardment and need repairs. Each house requires 10 - 20 bags of cement on the average for reconstruction.

However, the SLA permits only one bag of cement per household per day to be transported to the village said the sources, who added that residents are also obliged to show the empty bag of cement to the SLA as proof that the cement was used by them.

This process has led to inordinate delays in effecting repairs which has increased labour costs as well as the cost of transport for the villagers, said the sources.

These restrictions are imposed by the SLA to ensure that cement is used by the householders of Kokilakandy to rebuild their homes and not passed on to the Liberation Tigers, said the sources.