SLA bans transporting school building materials to LTTE held areas in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2005, 16:32 GMT]
Construction work of new buildings in two schools in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas in the Mannar district has come to a halt due to the ban imposed by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on the transportation of building materials through Uyilankulam and Madu road army checkpoints, sources said.

The reconstruction works of the two schools, Palampiddy Government Tamil School and Thadchanamaruthamadu Government Tamil School in the LTTE held areas began in March this year with the financial allocation of Asian Development bank (ADB) funded North East Community Restoration Project (NECORD). The NECORD allocated about 2.7 million rupees each for the reconstruction of these schools.

Contractors who undertook to construct these new building first attempted to transport building materials through the Uyilankulam army checkpoint. Soldiers manning the checkpoint refused to allow the building materials through their checkpoint.

Later, the contractors unsuccessfully tried to take the materials through Madhu road army checkpoint.

They approached the 24 Brigade of the SLA, which is located at Tantirimalai along Mannar-Mathavachchi road to obtain permission. But they were told to meet Vanni Brigade of the SLA for necessary assistance in this regard, Mannar district secretariat sources said.

The contractors and the education authorities concerned have brought the matter to the notice of the Mannar District Secretary, sources said.