Food distribution bottleneck eases in North

Ananth PALAKIDNAR

COLOMBO: As the Indian Government is actively working on the modalities to provide relief assistance to the Jaffna peninsula following the Sri Lanka Government's request the 'bottleneck' situation in the north for the past three months has now greatly eased with regard to the distribution of food and other essential commodities, defence sources said.

It is not only ships that are carrying food and fuel to Jaffna despite the turbulent North-East monsoon weather in the seas, the service of the Air Force's C-130 Hercules aircraft has also been obtained to ferry essential items to the peninsula.

The C-130 SLAF cargo carrier had taken 18,000 metric tonnes of milk powder to Jaffna on Saturday while 17,500 kilos of tinned fish and other food items were air lifted by the same aircraft on Sunday, defence sources added.

Commenting on the Indian relief assistance to the north an Indian High Commission spokesperson told the Daily News that the Lankan Government made a request last week to New Delhi to provide relief assistance to the peninsula.

"The Indian Government is actively engaged in working out the modalities on providing the relief assistance to the North.

However so far no decision has been taken on the amount of relief goods to be sent to the north and on when and where to send such relief. The Lankan Government's request is positively and actively taken into consideration", the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Defence sources in Jaffna said the situation in the Peninsula has very much improved with regular arrival of ships from the south.

Earlier, the Point Pedro harbour was used for ships that brought food items from Colombo. Now the Kankesanthurai harbour has also now become active with more ships reaching Jaffna.

Apart from the transportation of food items, a passenger shipping service was also launched from Jaffna yesterday. Rs. 1500 would be charged per head from Jaffna to Trincomalee according to sources.

Defence sources said Army outlets which distribute essential food items have now been increased to 16 with a large number of civilians queuing opposite army shops where goods could be purchased at controlled prices.

Electricity is also now available in the peninsula for nine hours and kerosene for agricultural activities could be brought without much difficulty.

The vehicular transportation is also improving with more private buses appearing on the roads sources said.

Meanwhile, private air transportation between Palaly and Ratmalana resumed on Saturday. Expo travels, a private operator resumed the Palaly-Ratmalana air passage with two flights a week since the passenger flights came to a standstill following clashes between the Armed Forces and the LTTE in August.