Killinochchi:

Back on bargain

Yasarathna Gamage, Anuradhapura Corr.

Products from farmers in Kilinochchi have begun to appear in the market. Merchants from Jaffna and suburban areas visit Kilinochchi fair to buy goods for reselling. The public fair at Kilinochchi is recovering swiftly. There are over 300 sellers engaged in business daily from 8 am until sunset.

A kilo of tomato is Rs 40 while brinjal is 45. The price of a kilo of onions is Rs 60 and chili goes at Rs 70. A kilo of well grown capsicum is Rs 40. A kilo of batana is sold around Rs 15-20. Some go-between merchants told Daily News that they sold a kilo of brinjal at Rs 65-80 in Jaffna which was bought at Rs 45 at Kilinochchi fair.

Ash-plantain, drumsticks, green leaves are sold for a song and vegetable dealers from Dambulla are interested in bringing vegetables to Kilinochchi fair. Although there are many sellers from various areas they cannot change the prices at will due to the unity among the sellers, which is quite admirable.

Apart from vegetables people buy daily needs. It is evident that victims of a 30 year war have settled into a peaceful life.

There has been a marked diversion of lives of those who had been displaced by LTTE terrorism as a result of government's immediate and efficient actions taken to resettle the innocent.

'I have been doing this business for 42 years. When it is rainy the price goes a little bit high but otherwise vegetables are tin pot. During the past it was terrible, but now we live happily. We have two acres from the government to cultivate. We get a lot of support too. I earn around one thousand to thousand five a day. I have two girls and a boy. What more could one ask for. It's like a dream to live as a family," said Muththukumar Sivaraja aged, 65.

'I have been in business for twenty years. The fair used to be beside the A9 where you find more crowd, but now it is about 2 kilometres away from the town which affect the business. I believe the fair should shift to where it was before. When we were enquired of moving the fair the officials told us that they were going to plan the city. We are waiting for them to do so.

Those days we had a business around 10000 a day but now it has come down a bit. Vegetable sellers are lucky they earn a good living. The army helped us a lot. We hope the future will be safe," said Chairman of the Business Association Kilinochchi, Ramyya Rathnamani.

The vegetable business is ok, we sell our own items, we send vegetables to Jaffna as well. Our people have started cultivations and there will be a fresh harvest soon in the market. That is when the competition begins," said S. Selwakumar, aged 43.

I am a porter. I can earn 400 rupees a day, that is not very bad. Where there are merchants from other cities I get more work. For me it does not matter whether I get something or not. The army people give me food almost every day, said K. Nadaraja, aged 61.