NorthEast Governor pays surprise visit to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2004, 00:42 GMT]
North East Provincial Governor (retd) Major General Asoka Jayawardene Thursday paid a surprise visit to Jaffna municipal library, district secretariat sources said. Jaffna Government Agent Mr.S.Pathmanathan, Jaffna Municipal Commissioner Dr.S.Gunarasa and provincial council officials accompanied him.

Earlier, his visit to Jaffna scheduled for Wednesday was reported to have been cancelled at the last minute due to warning by civil groups that they would hold demonstration against the visit.

However Major General Jayawardene arrived in Palaly military base Wednesday evening and stayed there. He held discussion with the Sri Lanka Army top officials and visited the Tellipalai cancer hospital, which is located in the Palaly high security zone Wednesday, military sources said.

On Thursday Major General Jayawardene arrived in Jaffna town with heavy security and visited the Jaffna municipal library. Although the destroyed Jaffna municipal library has been renovated it needs about five million rupees a month for its maintenance, chief librarian Mr.S.Thanabalasingham told the Governor, sources said.

A request has been made to the Governor to take steps to allocate funds for the maintenance of the library, as the municipal council is not in a position to provide such funds, sources said.

Major General Jayawardene suggested to municipal authorities to strengthen the computer unit of the library.