Displaced' roofing held up

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 August 1998, 10:07 GMT]
Fifteen thousand, one hundred and fifty (15,150) roofing sheets earmarked for the camps of the displaced persons in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas, are lying at the Vavuniya District Secretary's office for the past three months awaiting clearance for transport by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), said sources in Trincomalee.

The sheets are worth worth three million rupees, they said.

With the Northeast monsoon expected by late September and the existing roofing at the refugee camps in poor condition, the district secretaries in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi have made urgent requests for roofing sheets.

S. Vinayagalingam, Secretary of the North East Provincial Ministry for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, has requested Gamini Fonseka, Governor of the North East Provincial Council (NEPC) to take the matter up at the security conference in Colombo, where MoD officers are also present, so that matters could be expedited, said sources.

Aid workers in the Vanni and other LTTE held areas say the government's strict embargo on these areas is compounded by lengthy delays in the processing of applications at the MoD.