SLA imposes restrictions on deepening fisheries jetties

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 August 2004, 08:15 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has imposed new restriction on fisheries societies in the Vadamarachchi division in Jaffna district on deepening about 21 fisheries jetties, said Valvettithurai (VVT) Fisheries Co-operative Society. The SLA said that it would deploy a group of 15 SLA soldiers to each fisheries jetty area to supervise the deepening work for security reasons, sources said.

Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in February 2002, fisheries societies in Vadamaradchchi division have been agitating for permission to deepen about 21 fisheries jetties which were neglected for eight years following the capture of Jaffna peninsula by the SLA in 1996, fisheries sources said.

The SLA reasoned that deepening the fisheries jetties would allow LTTE cadres would infiltrate into the defense forward lines, sources said.

In the meantime, Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded North East Community Restoration Project (NECORD) allocated 2.5 million rupees for the deepening of fisheries jetties.

Fisheries co-operative officials say that their mechanized boats are getting damaged frequently by hitting against coral reefs found in fisheries jetties, which are not deepened for several years, VVT Fisheries Society President Mr.K.Kuttithamby said.

" We are not prepared to heed instruction and restriction of the SLA anymore. We will take steps to deepen fisheries jetties immediately," said Mr. Kuttithamby.