Residents object to name change

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 August 1999, 19:14 GMT]
The Tamil residents of Maskelia have expressed their objections to an attempt to change the name of a Tamil village, Samimalai, to a Sinhala name, "Nisanka Uyanne."

The authorities first attempted to change the name of the village in 1980 but after objections from the Tamil villagers, it was decided that the village should have three names: "Nisanka Yuanne" in Sinhala, "Samil Malai" in Tamil and "Accord"- the name given by the British during the colonial period.