Govt goes for Provincial Council in North

by P. KRISHNASWAMY

The Government will establish Provincial Council administration in the war-torn Northern province after putting in place the infrastructure and groundwork at a gradual pace, Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister and leader of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) Douglas Devananda told the Sunday Observer.

It was his conviction that President Mahinda Rajapaksa will decide on the date of elections for the Provincial Council after discussions with parliamentary representatives of the Northern Tamils and reach a consensus on the mode of power devolution, he said.

The process of enumeration to update the Voters’ Registers that remained deadlocked for over two decades, especially in the Mulliativu and Kilinochchi districts, due to the long drawn-out battle has been launched by the Elections Department.

The department has set up another office in Kilinochchi to coordinate the process of comprehensive enumeration, including the enumeration of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are being resettled, the Minister said.

He also convened a meeting of leaders of Tamil political parties on Thursday at his Colombo residence for discussions on adopting a common approach on the resettlement and rehabilitation of IDPs, ways and means of resolving their day-to-day problems and proposals to resolve the Tamil problem, he said.

This was a preliminary meeting attended by TULF leader V. Anandasangaree, People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) leader T. Sitharthan, Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF-Naba Wing) leader Sridaran, former TNA Parliamentarians Sivajilingam and Sri Kantha, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation leader Uthayan and Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS) leader Prabha, he said.

They would also invite the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) led by R. Sampanthan MP and the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) led by the Chief Minister of the Eastern PC Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan for future meetings for deliberations on adopting a common stance on important issues concerning the Tamils, he said.