Sri Lanka – MIC Newsline – June 19, 2009 – Dengue Casualties Rise – Six Killed within 24 Hours/ War Has Made 49,000 Widows in Eastern Province

Dengue Fever death toll in the country has risen up to 140 with six people dead within the 24 hours ending at 6.00 PM on Thursday the 18th instant. 10,417 people have been affected by this deadly disease according to the Health Ministry.

Gampaha district tops the list of Dengue casualties with 25 deaths followed by Kandy district with 24 and Colombo with 13 deaths. The disease is continuing to spread amidst various actions taken by the Ministry of Health.

According to the Health officials in Batticaloa, there are 317 people identified as dengue victims in the district with six people dead.

War Has Made 49,000 Widows in Eastern Province

“The three decades of war in Sri Lanka has made 49,000 women as widows in the Eastern Province” said Eastern Provincial Council Health Minister M.L.A.M. Hisbullah at a meeting held recently in Kattankudy.

“There are 25,000 widows in the Batticaloa district at present, out of them 12,000 women lost their husbands in the war during the recent past” the Health Minister said further. He said that the Provincial Council collected all these information.

Continuing his speech the minister said that the standard of living of these widows should be uplifted and be encouraged to improve their economic condition. ‘Self employed women in India have improved a lot and contributed towards the development of India. The same way the widows here too should be made to improve their economic status and develop the country’ he said.

Chief Minister’s Secretary Joins the Government Party

With the ending of the one year contract as Secretary to the Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (TMVP) of the Eastern Provincial Council, yesterday, the former Secretary Mamangarajah has joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). He is to meet the Deputy President and the Eastern Province SLFP organizer, Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan today to obtain his official membership with the SLFP.

DIG To Meet Traders, Jameathul Ulema and the Muslim Community of Kattankudy

The Batticaloa Deputy Inspector General of Police Edison Gunatileke is to meet the traders, Jameathul Ulema and the Muslim community of Kattankudy on Friday the 19th instant. It is learnt he is to discuss about the growing use of drugs, intoxicants and the increasing habit of smoking cigarettes among the youths under the age of 18 years.

He is also to discuss about youths using mobile phones for immoral acts such as viewing pornography films. It is learnt illegal weapons in the possession of a few people in Kattandy will also to be surrendered to the DIG on this occasion.

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EPDP co-ordinator for the Batticaloa district K. Arumailingam being the latest to join the bandwagon.

The trend of Tamil politicians getting SLFP membership continues, with EPDP co-ordinator for the Batticaloa district K. Arumailingam being the latest to join the bandwagon.

According to government sources, Mr. Arumailingam, who is also a member of the Batticaloa Municipal Council, has decided to join the SLFP along with Mayor Sivageetha Prabhakaran.  They are expected to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa next week.

Mr. Arumailingam, who acted as the district co-ordinator for EPDP leader Minister Douglas Devananda, has reportedly tendered his resignation from the party. He had earlier been a member of the North-East Provincial Council headed by Vartharajah Perumal.

Minister Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan was the first eastern politician to join the SLFP, the largest party of the ruling coalition. Along with him hundreds of TMVP members too obtained its membership. Political analysts say that the new political phenomenon was a result of the government mounting pressure on the minority parties to become a part of the SLFP. 

TNA MP for the Wanni district, Sivanathan Kishore, has also expressed his support for the government’s development work in the Northern Province recently.

Military is still running after Tiger leader Nagulan and Kuilan operating in Batticaloa and Trincomalee

Whilst search operations were going on in Colombo the military is still running after Tiger leader Nagulan and Kuilan operating in Batticaloa and Trincomalee along with a handful of Tiger cadres. Military officials believe that they have already moved into the civilian settlement in the East as intense search operations conducted by the Security Forces have made it difficult for them to operate in the jungles.

ACTED SRI LANKA - AREA COORDINATOR BATTICALOA

Department: Coordination 

Position: Area CoP  Position: Area Coordinator Batticaloa

Contract duration: 12 months

Location: Batticaloa, Sri Lanka

Starting Date Immediate

Click here to see details

Moothoor IDPs relocated against their wish in Ki’liveddi

June 19th, 2009 

Sri Lanka police forcibly took away 224 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Moothoor in Trincomalee district presently staying in Kirimuddi refugee camp in Batticaloa district, against their wish, to be relocated in Ki?liveddi in Trincomalee district, Tuesday noon, sources in Batticaloa said. UNHCR representatives, representatives of NGOs besides government officials were present during this incident, the sources added.

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Brandix, a top Sri Lankan apparel maker, is planning to boost production at a factory built in Batticaloa

June 16, 2009 (LBO) - Brandix, a top Sri Lankan apparel maker, is planning to boost production at a factory built in Batticaloa, a former war-torn area in the east of the island where ex-female Tiger combatants are also working, an official said.

"Our current production is 20,000 pieces and we want to push it up to 50,000 pieces," Theodore Gunasekara, general manager, intimate apparels at Brandix Lanka said.

"Of the current workforce of 220 working at the factory, 95 percent are women.

"This includes some ex-combatants as well."

In May Sri Lanka said the Tamil Tiger leadership was wiped out in the last redoubt in the north east of the country following a two and a half year war.

Eastern Sri Lanka was re-taken from the Tigers in the early phases of the campaign and local elections had already been held in the area, with a breakaway Tiger leader winning the polls.

Gunasekara said currently the factory is making pocket denim pants and will achieve a target of 50,000 pieces by end September 2009.

Brandix has invested 250 million rupees on the factory.

"The factory was made under a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative," said Gunasekara.

"We want to see if we can commercialize this CSR initiative."

source:http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=1065451113