Rs.3 b. on essentials for North

Ranil Wijayapala and Uditha Kumarasinghe

COLOMBO: There is an enormous volume of commitment by the Government to see that the displaced people are well fed and they are receiving essential commodities on time and spending more than Rs. 3 billion for this purpose alone, Essential Services Commissioner A.S.B. Divaratne said yesterday.

Addressing the Cabinet press briefing in Colombo, the Commissioner said the Nation Building Ministry is providing funds to feed 450,000 internally displaced civilians per month. He said the Government has taken every possible step to send food and essential commodities to the conflict affected areas in the North and the East and to distribute food free of charge for the displaced civilians.

Divaratna said the Government spent Rs. 250 million to send 1,600 metric tonnes of foods and other essential commodities by ship to Jaffna last week. "The Government had to pay Rs. 18 million to hire the ship to transport food stocks from Colombo harbour to Point Pedro," Divaratne added.

He said the ship has already berthed at the Colombo Port after unloading the food stocks in Point Pedro.

"The second ship load with 3,800 metric tonnes of food stocks worth nearly Rs. 500 million will be loaded to be sent to Jaffna possibly on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning," he added. The second shipment will include 2,500 metric tonnes of rice, 750 metric tonnes of flour, 250 metric tonnes of sugar and 300 metric tonnes of dhal.

The shipment include foods sent by the Ministry of Nation Building and food stocks needed for the NGOs and also for Cooperative shops.

He said more than 40 lorry loads of foods and essential items to uncleared areas in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya has already been dispatched.

"Thirty lorry loads of food were sent to these areas on Wednesday following Tuesday's unfortunate incident in which LTTE fired mortars once lorries were ready to cross Omanthai entry exit point," he said.

Another 150 lorries loaded with food and essential commodities were waiting in Vavuniya to be sent to uncleared areas in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, he added. In addition to this, a ship loaded with 900 metric tonnes of flour is also awaiting clearance from the ICRC to be sent to Jaffna.

"The ICRC has not received clearance from the LTTE side," he added. He also said steps have also been taken to transport 2,000 odd people stranded in Jaffna due to the conflict to Colombo and another 1,600 people stranded in Vavuniya to Jaffna by ship. "The ship and the crew members awaiting clearance from the ICRC," he added.