Development in northeast halted

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 September 1998, 11:48 GMT]
All development work in the north and east have been ordered to an immediate halt, as a result of the unavailability of necessary funds from the Sri Lankan treasury.

The announcement was circulated to all the GAs and secretariats in a latter dated 14 August 1998 with reference DCS(L) DD 97 -DH.

The letter states that as result of sufficient funds not being allocated to the respective secretariats by the central treasury of Sri Lanka for the past eight months, all projects that are in their initial phase are to be abandoned forthwith, and those that have already been started, are to be halted with immediate effect.

In the past, each secretariat received 1 million rupees in the beginning of the year for the initiation of development projects. As is customary, the secretariats in different areas had worked out detailed plans for this year's projects, and obtained the necessary approvals from the provincial development committees and the provincial councils.

According to these plans, some 262 projects were to be initiated across 12 secretariats, and the entire north and east needed 150 million rupees (including some 12 million rupees for Batticaloa district alone).

However, the Sri Lankan treasury has allocated just 10 million rupees for the whole northeast region.