Villagers plead for opening of Puliyadyirakkam Road in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 12:24 GMT]
Villagers in the LTTE held Madhu areas in Mannar district have requested the civil and military authorities to re-open the Puliyadyirakkam Road, the gateway to 13 Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions in the LTTE held territory. Madhu Divisional Secretariat area comprises 17 GN divisions of which four are in the government held territory.

Puliyadyirakkam Road, the only land route located along Mannar- Madawachchi main road to LTTE held territory in Madhu DS division was closed the government armed forces since the outbreak of fresh fighting between the government troops and LTTE in August 11 last year.

Puliyadyirakkam Road was opened following the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and LTTE leader V.Pirapaharan. However, the road was again closed due to security reasons by the military. The road was re-opened in June 2003 following agitation by the people of the area.

Since the closure of the road last year, villagers residing in the 13 GN divisions have been forced to travel to and from their areas to government held territory through Uyilankulam, several miles away from their villages.

Farmers and traders lose financially in transporting their produce and other materials from LTTE held territory by using Uyilankulam checkpoint.

Villagers also face severe hardships in transporting sick persons to hospitals to government-controlled territory, civil sources said.