Mobile service to assist NorthEast farmers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2006, 17:19 GMT]
Mobile service organized by the NorthEast Provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Development, Lands, Irrigation and Fisheries in all eight districts of the province is to be inaugurated at Pampaimadu in the Vavuniya Divisional Secretariat on Monday, April 3rd. The service will identify problems faced by the farmers and to provide immediate solutions, said Provincial Ministry Secretary Mr.A.R.M.Mahrouf in a press release issued Saturday.
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Polling commences for 266 local councils in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2006, 05:16 GMT]
Polling in about 8829 centers to elect 3624 members to 266 local government authorities comprising 12 municipal councils (MC), 34 urban councils (UC) and 220 pradesiya sabahs (PS) countrywide began Thursday morning at 7 a.m. A total 11,037,763 voters are eligible to cast their franchise to elect their members from about 25,523 candidates fielded by political parties and independent groups.
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Sri Lankans go to local polls Thursday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 20:42 GMT]
Sri Lankans will elect 4442 members for the 330 local councils in the elections to be held Thursday. In Trincomalee elections are being held after a lapse of 12 years, and in six NorthEast districts- Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya and Batticaloa the elections have been postponed for six months.
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TECH donates mini-lathe to self-taught craftsman

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 02:04 GMT]
The Economic Consultancy House (TECH) donated a mini-lathe and other accessories costing about Rs 50K to a self-taught entrepreneur in Muthaiyankattu near Mullaitivu to encourage his inventive spirit amid poverty, and to reward technical astuteness despite his bringingup in an technologically deprived environment, officials at TECH told TamilNet.
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SLN to transfer fishermen to Colombo under PTA

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2006, 00:39 GMT]
Five fishermen who are being detained at the Kankesanthurai Police from Wednesday morning said in a statement to the Attorney at the Jaffna Human Rights Commission Mr M Remedius Thursday that soldiers of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) forcefully arrested them while they were fishing in deep seas close to Mullaitivu about 30 km southeast of Point Pedro, civil society sources said. However, SLN officials said that the five detainees are to be handed over to the Colombo Terrorism Investigation Division under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for further investigation.
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Local elections in Trincomalee, Amparai to be held

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 March 2006, 19:27 GMT]
Elections to 12 local authorities in Trincomalee district and 17 in the Amparai district are to be held on March 30. Elections to forty-six local authorities in the other six districts of Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar and Batticaloa in the North East are to be postponed by six months, Colombo media sources reported Monday evening quoting an official of the Department of Elections.
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TRO assists Mullaitivu child's heart surgery

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 March 2006, 11:48 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization Monday donated Rs 45,000 towards heart surgery expenses for Saruaka, an eight month old ailing baby from Silavattai in Mullaitivu district, sources in Vanni said. The surgery is to be performed at the Colombo Jayawardenepura Hospital, medical sources in Vanni said.
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TRO donates permanent houses to tsunami victims

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 March 2006, 10:43 GMT]
"We have plans to build 250 houses in the Mullaitivu district. Houses we have constructed in Kallappad are expensive, structurally strong and are better than many similar houses donated as part of tsunami relief across Sri Lanka," said K.P. Regi, Executive Director, Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), speaking at the handing over ceremony held Tuesday morning in Kallappadu village in the Mulaitivu district.
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Mullaitivu fishermen receive fishing nets, accessories

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 March 2006, 17:39 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) under its accelerated rehabilitation project after tsunami with the funding of the Church of South India handed over a consignment of fishing nets to affected fishermen in Mullaitivu district at an event held Friday. Mr.Maraiyarasa, President of the Fisheries Co-operative Federation presided over the event, sources said.
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International Women's Day observed across NorthEast

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 March 2006, 00:00 GMT]
International Women's Day was observed in several parts of NorthEast on Wednesday, sources said. Local women's organizations and Non-governmental organization participated in events held in Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Jaffna and Mannar.
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Tsunami affected NorthEast teachers to receive help from INGO

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 March 2006, 20:44 GMT]
Education International (EI) funded compensation scheme for NorthEast teachers affected by tsunami was inaugurated by the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) in an event held Sunday in Trincomalee Vikneswara Maha Vidiyalayam, education officials said. EI has allocated 3.2 million rupees through the Sri Lanka Teachers Tsunami Rehabilitation Project for the North East for the benefit of nearly 1655 teacher-families affected by tsunami, CTTU General Secretary Mr.T.Mahasivam said.
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Local elections in LTTE areas likely to be postponed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 14:28 GMT]
Commissioner of Elections is to decide on whether to hold local council elections in areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers in the NorthEast on March 30th only after holding two conferences, one with all the District Returning Officers who are the Government Agents of the province, and the other with the general secretaries of the registered political parties contesting the poll, sources said.
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Sri Lanka Government's opening statement at Geneva

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 12:21 GMT]
"Ceasefire Agreement entered into between the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mr. V. Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE on the 22nd February 2002 is contrary to our Constitution and law," declared Nimal Sripala De Silva, Head of the Sri Lankan delegation at the opening session of the talks between the Liberation Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka.
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Armed men beat MAG staffers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 11:49 GMT]
Armed men in civilian clothes claiming to be belonging to paramilitary Karuna Group entered the offices of MAG (Mines Advisory Group) in Batticaloa at 2.55 p.m. Wednesday and beat a local staffer working at the office, and threatened the British national heading the Batticaloa office of MAG, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Reconstruction of 13,000 houses in NorthEast to begin

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 03:13 GMT]
The World Bank funded North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) has commenced the second phase reconstruction of 13000 houses for the war victim families in the NorthEast. NEHRP officials started distributing forms to collect necessary data to select qualified beneficiaries affected by the two decade-old war in the province to be included in the second phase, a press release of the NEHRP said.
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Passing out parades held for Sea Tiger auxilliary force

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2006, 15:07 GMT]
Cadres of the ninth group of Sea Tigers' auxilliary force who trained at the Lt.Col.Maravan training camp in Vadamaradchy east, participated in a passing out ceremony held at 5 p.m. Sunday, LTTE sources said. Vadamardchy East Head of LTTE Political Wing, Isaiyooran, presided the ceremony. In another ceremony held at 10 a.m. Sunday, 125 cadres graduated from the Lt Col Thiruvadi training camp in Manalaru in Mullaitivu district.
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Children Nutrition Park opens in Yogapuram

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 January 2006, 12:01 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Wednesday declared open a Children Nutrition Park with a Day-Care Centre for children and a pre-school in Yogapuram in Mallavi area in Mullaitivu district. The project funded by TRO(USA) was implemented by the Mallavi Zonal Office of the TRO Mullaitivu district. The park is named Vaiharai Children Nutrition Park.
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Foundation stone laid for Muttaiyankattu preschool

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 January 2006, 12:07 GMT]
Project Co-ordinator at The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), Mr Pulendran, presided over the foundation stone laying ceremony for a new preschool for children of the war-affected community in Jeevanagar, Muttaiyankattu in Mullaitivu district Wednesday at 10 a.m., sources in Kilinochichi said. TECH is a Sri Lanka Government registered NGO working exclusively in the NorthEast on employment generation projects.
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"Back to war"

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2006, 21:06 GMT]
"Unlike Indonesia Sri Lanka has failed to usher in peace. Every opportunity for rapprochement has been squandered after the Tsunami...The Sri Lankan government and the LTTE are steeped in mutual suspicion and contempt and will not arrive at any resolution on their own. A new heavy weight mediator must join Norway's Herculean but waning peacemaking efforts, one whom both parties can respect as an honest broker," said an independent analysis that appeared in the Sunday online edition of "The News" of Jang Group.
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TRO(USA) to hold tsunami anniversary fund raiser

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 01:49 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (USA) is holding its annual fund raiser at the cultural hall of Murugan Temple in Lanham, located 20 km north east of US capitol, Saturday. Voluntary contributions from families are earmarked for the Senthalir Illam in Mullaitivu where more than seventy children perished during the tsunami, organizers of the event said. Cultural events from local children will dominate the evening as a mark of respect for the Senthalir children.
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