Abandoned vehicles back to civilians

Chaminda Perera

People who left their vehicles in Pudumathalan, Mullivaikkal and Pudukudrippu areas where the LTTE held them as a human shield, will receive an opportunity to reclaim them soon.The Security Forces in Mullaitivu have already identified five locations in which these vehicles are to be kept for identification and the owners can take their vehicles back home on condition that they should prove their ownership.

According to Mullaitivu Security Forces Headquarters Civil Liasion Officer Colonel P.A.Dayananda, the first vehicle yard is to be opened at Pudukuduirruppu within next two weeks and Forces personnel are in the process of taking the vehicles to the yard. He said this process has been going on since last month.

Dayananda said a limited number of vehicles can be taken to the yard a day due to the poor road condi-tion.“Troops can take 10 – 12 three wheelers to the site at a time but we can take only one or two buses or heavy vehicles to the site at a time”, he added. Dayananda added that the Forces are maintaining a comprehensive data base on the vehicles left by the people in the area.

He stated that they have full details of each vehicle such as chassis number,engine number and the condition of the vehicle at the time the Security Forces inspected it.

He said the RMV officials, Police and the representatives of insurance and leasing companies are deployed at the site to help the people find their vehicle.

Dayananda added that these vehicle yards would be established in the area where resettlement has not taken place yet. He said the people in the resettled villages may sneak to the yards and take away vehicle parts if the vehicle yards are set up in areas where resettlement took place.