Governor rejects appeals from stranded Government employees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 12:13 GMT]
Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Wijeyawickrema, Governor of the North East Province, rejected appeals from more than one thousand Tamil government employees stranded in Jaffna peninsula for the past three months to allow them to work in the province as an interim measure, civil society sources in Jaffna said Thursday.

The civilians employed in various professions in LTTE–controlled areas of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Mutur, unable to leave the peninsula due to the closure of A9 highway after the clashes on August 11, recently forwarded a memorandum to the Governor explaining their inability to return to their places of employment and requesting temporary employment in the Peninsula.

The governor flatly rejected their request and directed the Northern Army Commandment to make immediate arrangements to transport them out of the province using two passenger ships. The Governor also sent directives to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Jaffna not to allow any of the civilian-employees to work in the North.

Meanwhile, the teachers who are among the affected employees have once again appealed to the governor to allow them to be employed in the schools in the province, pointing out the current difficult situation .

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