Land of dense jungles and shrub lands:

Revamped Mullaitivu bustling with life

By P. Krishnaswamy

Newly constructed Mankulam railway station

The newly constructed Puthukudiyiruppu DS office

The famous Wattarappalai Kannaki Amman temple

Five years and five months after the elimination of terrorism in the final battle at their doorstep, the people of Mullaitivu, mostly fishermen and farmers, who faced unimaginable horror showed no traces of their bitter memories, thanks to the prevalent atmosphere of peace and the Government's far-reaching development programs that can be observed everywhere in the district.

People are going about their business, children are attending schools, farmers are tending their lands, transport services are operating and all areas of the coastal district are bustling with life.

The wide expanse of land with the sea visible to the naked eye, thick palmyra groves and vast extent of paddy lands that are now being prepared for the Yala season, intermittent dense jungles and shrub lands pose a spectacular sight.

At the District Secretariat, the District Secretary Nagalingam Vedanayagam briefed about the many different development programs that are rapidly transforming the district from a terrorism-ravaged ruin to a hub of business and livelihood activities.

Many development programs are under implementation during the past four years in the agricultural, irrigation, health, education and infrastructure sectors, he said.

Work on power supply lines has been completed almost 70 percent and supply has been provided to 55 percent of the population, he said. Much progress has been achieved in the infrastructure sector, with many of the roads having been renovated and either carpeted or asphalted. Renovation work on all medium tanks have been completed while work on renovation of medium tanks has been completed 90 percent, he said.

Arrangements on bringing all cultivable lands under cultivation are nearing completion, with many more plans in the sector to be implemented. Under the housing program, about 20,000 houses have so far been constructed. Animal husbandry and poultry farming which were totally ruined during the conflict period are now thriving.

All schools are functioning with good attendance records and other than teacher shortage for some special subjects there is no general shortage of teachers. Contrary to the situation that was prevailing some years ago, the health sector is now functioning full swing, with the presence of an adequate number of doctors, nurses and other medical staff, DS Vedanayagam said.

In spite of the many programs that have been implemented to enhance agricultural productivity, the continuing drought in the district has caused some setback and only 1000 acres of paddy lands can be cultivated in the forthcoming 'Yala' season due to the drought as against 14,000 acres cultivated last year, he said. With a 70 km coastal belt and many inland water bodies, the fisheries sector has very high potential and with the development programs under implementation, the district will be able to send fish harvests to other districts very soon, he said.

The new District Secretariat complex has been completed at an expenditure of Rs. 200 Mn and several Divisional Secretariat buildings have also been newly constructed, he said.

Although there is no proper bus terminal for the Mullaitivu town at present, the UDA has prepared a plan for the construction of a bus terminal complex with all modern facilities which will come into implementation soon, he said.

The Disaster Management Ministry is now distributing drinking water to families that have been badly affected due to the drought. Relief assistance, including dry rations, and soft work for cash doles are also being provided to the most deserving families, he said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will present land permits to 3797 families of the Mullaitivu district during his visit to Kilinochchi on the 12th of this month, the DS said. He will also give compensations to 27 temples and about 147 properties that were lost or damaged due to terrorism-related problems, he said. Similar land permits and compensation amounts to all other four districts will also be handed over by the President at a function on that day in Kilinochchi, he said.

Under instructions from the DS, the Planning Section of the Secretariat provided the following details relating to development programs completed for the current year; As on July 31, 2014 40,380 displaced families consisting of 129,408 members have been resettled in the 136 Grama Niladhari areas of the Thunukkai, Manthai East, Oddusuddan, Maritimepattu, Pudukkudiyiruppu and Welioya administrative divisions of the Mullaitivu district with provision of relief and rehabilitation assistance and these families have returned to their traditional livelihood activities.

About 18,056 houses have been newly constructed and 4016 partly damaged houses have been repaired. About 15065 new houses are still to be constructed while 2680 houses are to be repaired.

Newly constructed Samurdhi Bank building at Mulliyawalai

The present main terminal which is to be developed as a state-of-the-art bus terminal complex

A luscious paddy field

Fishing in the Nandikadal lagoon

The fully carpeted Mankulam - Mullaitivu highway

2307 houses have been constructed under funds allocated by the Economic Development Ministry while 250 houses have been constructed under the Government of India housing program for the affected people.

Under the 'Owner Driven Housing Program' of the Government of India, Rs.4125 Mn has been allocated for the construction of 7500 new houses and Rs.250 Mn has been allocated for the repair of partly damaged houses. Houses were also newly constructed or repaired under fund allocations from the Resettlement Ministry (Rs. 5 Mn), the NHDA (Rs. 9.59 Mn) and the Sri Lankan Army.

The construction of 53 houses by the SL Army has already been completed. The total amount allocated by the Housing Program of the Resettlement Ministry is Rs. 257.32 Mn for the construction of 857 houses.

INGOs and local NGOs have also contributed their share for the construction of 2553 new houses and reconstruction of 2974 damaged houses while their work on assisting the affected families in the sphere of housing is continuing.

The total allocation as on July 31, 2014 on irrigation development works under different programs is Rs.3627.938 Mn and 1215 acres of abandoned lands were reclaimed for paddy cultivation which, in turn, will benefit a total number of 8690 farmers, in the respect areas.

Ten tanks, including the major Vavunikkulam tank and the Kalvilankulam tank, have been renovated under the Conflict Affected Region Emergency Project, while 06 tanks have been renovated under the Emergency Northern Recovery Project. Several tank renovation together with other facilities for increasing agricultural productivity were also undertaken under the Pro-poor Economic Advancement and Community Enhancement Project and also by the North-East Community Restoration and Development Project. The total proposed estimates for the rehabilitation of the Muthuiyankaddu tank head works under the Dam Safety Water Resource Planning Project (DSWRPP) is Rs. 586 Mn.

Over 2800 families will be benefited under the project while 6112 acres of paddy lands will be brought under cultivation. This year's fund requirement for the augmentation of the Panankamam Tank with the Vavunikulam tank excess water is Rs. 23 Mn which, when done, will benefit 200 families of the area while bringing 360 acres under paddy cultivation. The commercial production of paddy, Other Food Crops (OFC), vegetables and fruits that was officially recorded as 'nil' in 2009 and the years prior to that when the district was under the reign of terrorism, it progressively increased in the following years.

Paddy production recorded as 17769 metric tons in 2013, OFC 7692 metric tons, vegetables 2123 metric tons and fruits 565 metric tons, with the anticipated production increase in 2016 (estimated under the present growth rate) 20570 metric tons of paddy, 10,700 metric tons of OFC, 3516 metric tons of vegetables and 3516 metric tons of fruits.

But other strategies to make a giant leap in paddy production in 2016 are also being worked out to achieve a productivity of 78,000 metric tons of paddy. The strategies include bringing under the plough 700 hectares of additional lands, renovation of all tanks, productivity enhancement programs, organic rice farming, post-harvest technology and value addition of paddy. The same strategies are to be adopted to achieve productivity increase in OFC to 22,000 Mt in 2016 and fruits to 5690 Mt .

The production of ground nut too is expected to be brought under this new program to reach 8800 Mt in 2016 as against 2895 Mt in 2013. An amount of Rs.55.22 Mn has been spent on domestic funded projects.

Highly subsidised fertilisers were issued to the farmers and three fertilizer stores, at Pudukudiyiruppu, Udayarkaddu and Kokkuthoduwai, are now being reconstructed at an expenditure of about Rs. 10 Mn.

The Agrarian Service Center buildings in Kumulamunai, Pudukudiyiruppu, Kokkuthoduwai and Pandiyankulam which are in a bad shape are to be reconstructed on a priority basis at a total expenditure of Rs.41.5 Mn.

The number of cattle and poultry farms have also considerably increased under assistance provided by the government as also some of the NGOs. The funds allocated and the improvements reached in the health and education sectors since 2009 are tremendous.

Under the infrastructure development program, virtually all roads have been reconstructed or renovated as asphalted or carpeted roads with transport services, both state-owned and private, operating round the clock. A staggering amount of Rs. 23,450.75 Mn has been spent by the Road Development Authority (RDA) under fund allocations from the Economic Development Ministry.

Seven highways to an extent of 224.67 Km have been renovated/rehabilitated and asphalted. The roads renovated/rehabilitated include the Kandy-Jaffna A 9 highway, The Paranthan-Karachchi-Mullaitivu Road (A 35) and the Mankulam-Mullaitivu Road (34).

Provincial roads were renovated/rehabilitated by the Road Development Authority under the provincial administration.

While the fisheries sector, both marine and inland fisheries, which suffered a major setback during the three-decade-long conflict, considerably improved since 2009 through the many fishermens welfare programs implemented by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and infrastructure facilities provided for increasing fish production.

Issue of boats and other fishing gear, fuel subsidy and vehicle monitoring system and improved infrastructure facilities contributed immensely towards social welfare of the fisher families and increased productivity.

The construction of a fisheries harbour, introducing more multiday boats, construction of a lighthouse for beacon light, demarcation of Nanthikadal Chalai, Nayaru and Kokkilai lagoon as fisheries development zones, construction of a new fish market, introducing new technology to the industry and opening up of a fisheries training college are some of the plans in the pipeline for improving the fisheries sector.

A children's Park and a shopping complex are also to be constructed in the near future in the Mullaitivu town. The cooperative sector is to be improved as well. Five of the required 18 cooperative societies head office buildings have already been constructed with work on the remaining to be completed soon, of the required 57 Multi-purpose Cooperative Societies (MPCS) 37 have already been constructed, of the required 06 MPCS paddy stores 02 have been constructed and the societies have given Rs.32.85 Mn as loans for livelihood development.

All 115 schools in the Mullaitivu and Thunukkai educational zone, with a total student population of 24037 are fully functional and the standard of education has improved as evidenced in the improved GCE(OL) and GCE(AL) results. Programs are also under way to bring the educational level to the national standard.

All health care institutions, including the one general hospital, two base hospitals, eight divisional hospitals and five medical care units are fully functional with the presence of an adequate number of doctors, nurses and other medical staff with the bed strength having increased to 719 in 2013 as against 303 in 2011.

However, some of the problems in the health sector, including shortage of vehicles, shortage of human resources, quarters for some of the medical staff, medical ward complex and medical/surgical ward complexes are to addressed under plans in consideration.

Water supply schemes established in Mallavi at a cost of Rs. 192.24 Mn, a similar scheme at Pandiyankulam at a cost of Rs. 198.53 Mn and another scheme at Oddusuddan at a cost of Rs. 92.20 Mn are in operation with connections already been provided to nearly 30 percent of the beneficiaries while the process of providing connections to the other beneficiaries is continuing. Proposals for more water supply schemes, including the Kompavil project, the Mullaitivu project, and the Kokkulai rural project are under consideration to address the clean drinking water requirement of the Mullaitivu population.