5000 stray cattle threaten paddy crops in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2003, 01:32 GMT]
About five thousand heads of cattle, abandoned by their owners in the Thenamaradchi division in Jaffna district when they fled their villages due to military operation, have gone stray and the Divisional Secretary of the division has sought the assistance of the Sri Lanka Army to capture these animals in order to save paddy crops by resettled farmers, civil sources said.

Meanwhile, the Jaffna Government Agent Thursday informed the civil authorities in Thenmaradchi that the Sri Lanka Army has released paddy lands located in the Maravanpulo village level (Grama Sevaka) division for paddy cultivation by the resettled villagers, sources said.

The released paddy fields are located to the north of the Kerativu-Thanankilappu road, beyond the army checkpoint along the Nunavil-Kollankirai road and to the south of a railway line extending to an area called ' Keerai Vayal', divisional secretariat sources said.

At a meeting held Thursday at the Kaithady Agrarian Centre office, attended by farmers' representatives, a decision was made to collect names of all farmers who cultivated these fields before their displacement, sources said.

In the meantime, action has been taken to hand over captured stray cattle to their owners by the divisional secretariat, sources said.

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