NPC cuts funds to Vanni local bodies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 2010, 05:44 GMT]
Northern Provincial Council (NPC) is alleged of cutting funds allocated to the local government bodies in Vanni in great measures while these institutions are not in a position to collect revenue from people who had been uprooted and just resettled in Vanni, sources in Vanni said. It is further accused that NPC officials spend the above funds on needless projects to satisfy the whims of Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri and Sri Lanka government.The Governor is expected to hold a meeting Monday with the officials of the local government bodies in the North.

Vanni local bodies are not in a state to collect revenue or other local body taxes on trade, commerce etc. and hence do not have any funds for the development and maintenance of their area.



For instance, Ma’n’niththu’rai jetty in Poonakarai was recently renovated and a boat service between Poonakari and Ma’nianthoaddam jetty in Kozhumpuththu’rai in Jaffna was ceremoniously opened by Namal Rajapaksa, the son of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa, with great publicity.

Though the NPC officials had said that great number of people would prefer to use this boat service to travel to Vanni than the A9 land route from Jaffna, only a few passengers travel by the boat service now.

Sri Lanka government had stopped funds to the local bodies in Vanni for the last twenty years.