T’nadu investors to visit North

by Manjula FERNANDO

A team of industrial investors from Tamil Nadu will visit Sri Lanka shortly to do a feasibility study and gauge investment potential in the North.

The delegation of Tamil Nadu MP, who met President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his State visit to India last week said they would send a team of industrial investors to start businesses in the North.

This ensued at a meeting which included a briefing by the President on the ground realities of the resettlement and development effort of the Government, Foreign Ministry sources said yesterday.

At the conclusion of their meeting in Delhi the Tamil Nadu politicians expressed willingness to take part in the North East development if the things were moving forward as mentioned by the President, the sources said.

The President met the delegation of DMK and Congress MPs including Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and former Union Ministers T R Baalu, Manishankar Aiyar and E M Sudarsana Natchiappan on Wednesday.

They were briefed on the progress of the development activities and obstacles faced in expediting the resettlement of IDPs in the North.

The President said that there were only 28,000 displaced civilians living in transit camps at the moment and it was incorrect to say that over 70,000 were still in camps, in response to concerns raised by the MPs.

He said that these IDPs too will be resettled before the end of this year while stressing that the Government was committed to work out a political solution admissible to all communities of the country.

On the issue of fishermen in custody, President Rajapaksa explained that there was a delay on the part of the Indian officials, not that of Tamil Nadu but elsewhere so the process drags on for about six months to one year. He had assured swift action by the Sri Lankan side to deal with the issue.

The President renewed his invitation to Tamil Nadu MPs to visit Sri Lanka again and see for themselves the progress of the activities taking place at the ground level for socio economic revival and bring back normalcy to the war torn North.

A delegation of South Indian MPs toured the North and held discussions with the Tamil political parties during a visit facilitated by the Government in October last year.

External Affairs Mnister Prof.G.L.Peiris, Minister Douglas Devananda, President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga and Treasury Secretary P. B.Jayasundara also attended the meeting.

After a rewarding State visit to India which included a trip to Shimla in the State of Rajastan, President Rajapaksa retuned to the country on Friday.