Mannar fishermen face more problems

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Traders in Mannar who send fish by lorry to the Colombo markets complain that they lose a lot of money in Madawachchi as some thugs in this Sinhala town are in the habit of taking away boxes of fish.

The Sri Lankan Police in this junction town look the other way or might even be colluding with these thugs complain the Mannar fish traders.

Lorries from Mannar to Colombo have to park in Madawachchi town during the day and are let to proceed only late in the night.

This is due to security reasons say the Police and the army. But the traders point out that all lorries from Mannar are completely unloaded, checked and reloaded before they are allowed towards Madawachchi junction and take the road to Colombo.

But the fish lorries are still delayed in the town after dark.

This helps the thugs to forcibly take away fish worth thousands of rupees every day from the lorries say the Mannar merchants.