Thiruketheeswaram temple consecrated after 27 years

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2003, 12:10 GMT]
After twenty-seven years the consecration (Maha Kumbabishekam) ceremony of the historic Thiruketheeswaram Temple in Mannar district was held Sunday morning amid hundreds of thousands of devotees from all over the country especially from the northeast chanting prayers," temple authorities said.
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Northeast prepares to celebrate Black Tigers' day

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2003, 12:52 GMT]
Red and Yellow flags, decorative ornaments and picture boards adorned streets and junctions in key towns including Jaffna, Point Pedro, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, projecting a festival atmosphere as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and people of Northeast prepared to celebrate the Black Tigers day, Saturday, 5th July, sources said.
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Indian boatmen remanded till Friday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2003, 15:44 GMT]
The Mannar Magistrate, Mr. N.M.M.Abdullah, remanded six Indian boatmen till Friday, when the boatmen, who were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy on Wednesday for poaching in Sri Lankan waters, were produced in court Thursday, legal sources said.
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Detained Indian fishermen to be produced in court

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2003, 13:32 GMT]
Six Indian fishermen out of the twenty-six arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy in the Pesalai sea are to be produced in court by the ThalaiMannar police, and the remaining fishermen in the custody of the SLN will be handed over to the Indian Navy, police sources said.
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Indian trawlers again poaching in northern seas

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2003, 18:58 GMT]
Vadamarachchi fishermen in the Jaffna district Wednesday complained to fisheries officials that Indian trawlers once again have started poaching in the northern territorial waters of Sri Lanka, civil sources said.
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Northeast elections postponed till January 24

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 June 2003, 15:16 GMT]
The elections to fifty local government institutions in the northeast province which were scheduled to be held on June 25 has been postponed for another six months. The new election date is January 24,2004, election department sources said.


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Volunteers teachers made permanent assume duties in NE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 June 2003, 18:46 GMT]
Ninety percent of the nine hundred and nine Tamil medium volunteers made permanent Thursday assumed duties in their respective Tamil medium schools in the northeast, provincial education ministry officials said.


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SLA vacates Thiruketheeswaram temple

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 June 2003, 11:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which have been occupying the buildings of the Thiruketheeswaram temple in Mannar have vacated the premises last week, according to local reports.
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Leprosy Control programme to be inaugurated in Northeast

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 June 2003, 00:20 GMT]
A workshop was held Thursday in Trincomalee on the implementation of an Integrated Leprosy Control Services Project in the Northeast province at the auditorium of the provincial ministry of health.
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UN child rights body criticises Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2003, 17:59 GMT]
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said it is concerned that under Sri Lanka’s legal system societal discrimination persists against vulnerable groups of children, including children with disabilities, adopted children, children displaced by conflict, children infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS and children of ethnic groups and religions.
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Jaffna to hold Methodist District Synod after 15 years

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2003, 00:04 GMT]
The North East District Synod of the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka is to be held in Jaffna for the first time after fifteen years on June 13 and June 14. Ministers and leaders of the thirteen circuits of the Methodist Churches in the northeast will participate in the synod, church sources said.


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‘Let my people lead normal lives’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 June 2003, 20:01 GMT]
“My people have endured great agony and suffering for twenty years. Let them lead normal lives like those in other parts of the country”, the Bishop of Mannar, Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph told a delegation of Sri Lankan armed forces and officials that is on a fact finding visit to the district on the island’s northwestern coast Tuesday. “It is imperative that they shouldn’t be made to wait any longer for their rightful share of the peace dividend which everyone outside the northeast has enjoyed for more than an year”, the Bishop said.
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NIAP officials survey work in Vannerikulam, Aanaivilunthan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 June 2003, 12:28 GMT]
Nimal Fernando, the Country resident representative of the World Bank which is funding the North East Irrigation and Agriculture Project (NIAP), the Chief Engineer, Kilichochi district Government Agent (GA) Mr. T. Rasanayakam visited Vannerikulam and Aanaivilunthan kulam to survey the rehabilitation work of the irrigation tanks Saturday, said sources in Kilinochchi.
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World Bank team conducts field survey in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2003, 04:49 GMT]
Two World bank teams now in Sri Lanka Wednesday inspected four focal villages, two in Jaffna district and two in Vavuniya district in its four day field survey to assess the agricultural development works and restoration of minor irrigations tanks now being carried out by the North East Irrigated Agricultural Project (NEIAP), NEIAP sources said.
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World Bank teams begin field survey tour in NE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 June 2003, 00:50 GMT]
Two teams of World Bank officials began their four day field survey tour in the districts of Northeast province Monday to assess agricultural development and restoration works on minor irrigation tanks now being carried out by the World Bank funded North East Irrigated Agricultural Project (NEIAP), government officials in Trincomalee said.
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Indian fishermen handed over to Indian coast guard

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2003, 10:39 GMT]
Nine Indian fishermen and four boatmen were handed over to the Indian coast naval guard in midsea off Mannar Monday by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on the orders of the Mannar acting Magistrate Mr.M.M.Saburdeen, legal sources said.


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World Bank teams to assess NEIAP projects in northeast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 May 2003, 17:23 GMT]
Two teams from the World Bank are to conduct field survey tour between 2 June and 6 June in the northeast districts to assess agricultural development and restoration works now being carried out by the North East Irrigated Agricultural Project (NEIAP), NEIAP sources said.


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Damaged boats keep Indian fishermen trapped in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2003, 16:19 GMT]
Four Indian boatmen with their boats damaged during an earlier incident in mid-sea have been languishing in a weaving centre in Mannar for the last three months with no means to travel to South India. They have threatened to commit suicide if the authorities do not find a way to send them home immediately, sources said.


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LTTE,TNA spell out basis for Tokyo meet participation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2003, 10:55 GMT]
“The LTTE is of the view that before it participates in the Tokyo Aid Conference currently fixed for 9th and 10th June, the administrative, financial and other structures with adequate powers need to be established in order to reconstruct the northeast and to rehabilitate and restore normal civilian life in the northeast province”, said the Tamil National Alliance in a press release issued Wednesday on the outcome of the talks its delegation had with the LTTE political leadership on Tuesday in Killinochchi.
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HDU sounds alarm on removal of ‘safety fences’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2003, 10:01 GMT]
Humanitarian De-mining Unit (HDU) officials in Kilinochchi said Wednesday that an NGO operating in the Vanni had created a dangerous precedent when it recently removed fences demarcating areas infested with mines and unexploded ordnance in Sannaar, on the northern coastal sector of the Mannar district. “The NGO had apparently removed the demarcating fences to show that the Sannar area is safe for rehabilitation work”, the HDU officials said. The HDU is an arm of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).
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