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| Wednesday, 9 February 2005 |
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Urban Development and Water Supply Minister Dinesh Gunawardena had directed officials in Trincomalee to speed up reconstruction work on houses and other buildings on a planned basis to help tsunami victims in the district. The Minister issued this directive at a conference held at the Trincomalee Kachcheri during an observation tour of the Trincomalee District recently. The Minister undertook this tour to inspect the re-settlement program in Trincomalee devastated by the recent tsunami and the distribution of relief goods among the affected families. A press release issued by the Urban Development and Water Supply Ministry said the progress of construction work in tsunami affected areas in Trincomalee were discussed at length at the meeting chaired by Minister Gunawardena at the Trincomalee Kachcheri. The UDA officials informed the minister lands have already been identified in safer locations to build houses for the re-settlement of the affected families. All steps have been made to provide adequate supplies of safe drinking water to the affected families. This was corroborated by divisional secretaries attending the meeting who said that people in their areas were getting adequate water supplies. When Minister Gunawardena questioned about certain news reports which said that Trincomalee had not received adequate supplies of government relief, TNA Parliamentarian Sivajilingam complained about the inadequacy of toilet facilities at relief camps in the area. However, the Trincomalee GA countered this claim saying all facilities including sufficient toilets have been provided to the affected people. The GA also said basic books, uniforms and other equipment have been supplied to the affected schoolchildren in the region while UNICEF has planned to distribute a complete set of uniforms and educational equipment among them. UPFA Parliamentarian Jayantha Wijesekera called upon the participants at the meeting to give a detailed account of immediate needs in the area to the minister so that he could set the wheels in motion to rectify them. Mr. Wijesekera said that even though TNA Parliamentarian Sivajilingam complained about shortcomings in tsunami relief aid he had never brought this to the notice of the District Disaster Management Committee before. |
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