Mannar rehabilitation in top gear

Nimal Wijesinghe Anuradhapura Additional District Group Corr

The resettlement of families who have been arriving in Mannar district after an absence of nearly 30 years due to the war and LTTE attacks, is being accomplished successfully. Mannar Chief Irrigation Engineer Palitha Wickramatilake, told the Daily News that the resettlement of around 150 families under Puliyankulam tank belonging to the Viyadikulam reserviour cascade is being implemented.

Wickramatilake said these Tamil families had returned to Mannar after decades in living in refugee camps in India and have been occupying temporary shelters in the locality of Viyadikulam, adjoining a navy security base. There are about 160 small cascade tanks under the giant tank, Akathimuruppu and Viyadikulam tanks in Mannar district.

The Viyadikulam tank cascade is being fed by Modaragam Aru Oya.

The Puliyankulama tank rehabilitation project is being implemented by the Irrigation and Water Resources Management Ministry on a request by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Defence Ministry has allocated Rs 100 million for the completion of the tank and the canal system rehabilitation project, which could cultivate 600 acres. The Defence Ministry will provide housing and other basic infrastructure facilities to enable the resettlers to take to farming and inland fishery industry.