White Pigeon branch opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 April 2003, 22:26 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) sponsored White Pigeon Technical Institute, headquartered in the Vanni region, opened its third branch Monday at Ananadapuri, three km to the north of Trincomalee town, TRO sources said.

Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham unveiled the name board of the branch office and Mr.N.Singaraveloo, Secretary of the Trincomalee District NGOs’ Consortium declared open the office complex by cutting the ribbon. The LTTE’s Trincomalee district political head Mr.S.Thilak lit the flame of sacrifice.

Northeast co-ordinator for White Pigeon, Mr.A.Antony

Trincomalee district co-ordinator of the TRO, Mr.K.Mathavarajah, presided over the function. He said the White Pigeon Technical Institute has come to the rescue of the people who have lost their limbs and those who have become invalids.

Mr.Thilak said that during the war, the government imposed an economic embargo on the Northeast, including on artificial limbs. The White Pigeon Technical Institute, which was inaugurated in Jaffna during the 1990s, provided necessary assistance by manufacturing artificial limbs with available technical expertise. The White Pigeon office in Jaffna was moved to the Vanni following the mass exodus from Jaffna in 1995. In the Vanni too, the Institute rendered immense service to people who lost their limbs in war and landmine mishaps amidst the government's economic embargo, he said.

Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham also spoke. Several beneficiaries were given tricycles, wheel chairs and clutches at the function.

The Northeast co-ordinator of the Institute, Mr.A.Antony, told TamilNet that since its inception the Institute has supplied about 1850 artificial limbs, more than one thundered tricycles, about seventy-five wheel chairs and nearly 300 clutches to those who lost their limbs in landmine explosions and invalids.

The White Pigeon Technical Institute was inauguarated at the Kokuvil Kulapitty junction in Jaffna in the 1990s. The institue reopened its Jaffna branch on December 5,.2002, at Chundukuli near Jaffna town.

The Institute, sponsored by the TRO’s branches in Norway and Germany, has now established its regional office in Killinochchi to provide its services to the needy with minimum delay, TRO sources said.

The objectives of the White Pigeon Technical Institute are to conduct awareness programmes among the masses about landmine danger, to manufacture and distribute artificial limbs, to provide assistance to invalids and to supply equipment needed for them to survive and also to extend facilities to self employed projects, the sources said.

A section of beneficiaries who were given tricyles, wheel chairs and clutches.

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