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PM tells Eastern Province fishing community:
Govt's development program will not be stalled at any cost
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse pledged to the Eastern Province fishery
community that the Government's resolute commitment to the on going
development process will not be stalled, no matter whatever the
challenges it may confront in the future.
The Premier made this promise when he visited the
Eastern Province last Saturday to study the living conditions of the
People in the aftermath of the tsunami devastation on December 26 last
year.
In the course of his Eastern Province tour, he met
Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala fishery families of the Panama, Pothuvil,
Sinhapura, Ulla, Komariya and Uraniya villages in the Eastern Province
and having inquired after their health inaugurated a number of
development projects including the construction of four Community Halls
and a fishery Housing Scheme.
He attended a ceremony to distribute fishing boats and
fishing gear among the tsunami victims of the Eastern Province.
Identification of problems posed in the day-to-day life
of the Eastern Province people and identification of obstacles to raise
their standard of living and provisions for immediate implementation of
solutions to alleviate their grievances were the prime motives of the
Premier's visit on last Saturday.
The Premier also attended an occasion of presenting
financial aid to tsunami victims under the sponsorship of Terredf Hommef
Institute of the Netherlands operated through the Small Fishery
Federation of Sri Lanka.
The Premier while inspecting the ongoing welfare
activities in the Eastern Province, also met the Indian Army Relief
Workers now operating in the Ampara District to thank them for their
services.
He made it a point to discuss the problems confronting
the Muslim victims in the Pothuvil area and instructed the officials to
take immediate steps to minimise the shortcomings affecting the Muslim
community.
Addressing a public meeting to mark his Eastern Province
Inspection Tour, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse observed that the
tragedy of tsunami rendered all of us helpless irrespective of our
various differences but our spontaneous will to forget differences and
unite in calamity displayed our resilience which in turn attracted the
international community to help us.
The visits of world leaders offering assistance in the
aftermath of the tsunami catastrophe is a good example of this gesture
on the part of the international community, remarked the Premier.
He further said that a factory to turn out fishing boats
and fishing gear will be established in the East very soon and that the
restoration of most of the infrastructure facilities including fishery
harbours and bridges have now reached almost completion, and that the
reconstructed Arugambe Bridge will be reopened within a few days time.
The Premier was associated with Minister Jeyraj
Fernandopulle on this tour. |
