Archives

Ten thousand new phones for Jaffna

The government intends to strengthen the ties and exchange of ideas between the people of the North and South. This will further boost the peace process through discussions and mutual respect. The provision of 10,000 telephones for the Jaffna peninsula with a total investment of Rs. 430 million and further gone to strengthen this process, said Mass Communication Minister Imithiasz Bakeer Markar.

He was speaking at the opening ceremony of a new telephone exchange constructed under the telephone project in the Jaffna district called "New Hopes".

Through this project Jaffna subscribers will receive 10,000 new telephone connections before the end of the year. Three thousand telephones will be provided under Phase 1 of this project.

Subsequent to the opening of this new telephone system, the first call was made to Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe by the Minister. The Prime Minister who addressed the Jaffna population over the telephone said that the Government has fulfilled its promises to Jaffna people who have suffered a lot due to the war by providing telephone facilities to communicate not only with the people in South but also with people abroad. The Prime Minister said that more facilities will be provided to jaffna citizens like the Jaffna service of the Rupavahini channel.

Then, the Minister officially introduced the new overseas call card called "SLT PASSPORT" introduced by the Sri Lanka Telecom Ltd. and connected the Jaffna Exchange with the overseas Telephone System in order to provide international telephone facilities to Jaffna.

He further said since the present Government came into power, we served with dedication and determination to achieve peace. While talking peace with the LTTE the Government is in a process of fulfilling all development needs of the people of Jaffna, Several measures have already been implemented by the Government to enhance the telecommunications facilities in this area as well as the other services provided for them.

At the time of our visit held in Jaffna, two months earlier, one of the main requests made by several religious leaders including the Bishop of Jaffna was to develop the communication facilities. We have fulfilled their wishes today.

Additionally, we have executed a project to provide new 2000 telephones for the Mannar Peninsula. Due to the commencement of Rupavahini Channel in the Jaffna peninsula last week people are getting good entertainment. Further, steps would be taken to make 'Channel Eye' of Rupavahini as the Channel which telecast Tamil Programme from next month.

Minister of Tamil Culture T. Maheshwaran, said that, due to the peace process the public of Jaffna got the opportunity to live with respect and dignity.

Minister Bakeer Markar instructed the officials of SLT to immediately fulfil the request made by T. Maheswaran to grant a discount of 10% to media personnel and 15% to places of religious worship in the Jaffna District which were provided to other areas in the country.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager