Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena says there is no differentiation or discrimination in the development of the country and the benefits of the development to the people living in the Northern and Eastern provinces will be delivered equally as promised.
Convening the Presidential Task Force on the development of the Northern and Eastern Provinces for the second time on Monday at the Presidential Secretariat, the President said the assistance of all the people’s representatives in the provinces as well as the public servants is expected to make the development programs a success.
During the meeting, the President instructed the officials to take measures to streamline and accelerate the infrastructure development programs of the North and the East and the programs implemented to uplift the livelihood of the people.
The President inquired into the progress of the implementation of the decisions taken during the first meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the development of the Northern and Eastern Provinces held on July 30 under the patronage of the President.
The President inquired on the progress of the program implemented to supply drinking water for the Madhu sacred area in Mannar District and was informed that Sri Lanka Navy is carrying out the construction work.
The development activities of Kankasanthurai Cement Factory, development of Valaichchenai paper industry, salterns at Elephant pass and Kurunchayiniu, and the development of the industrial colony and finalizing the project, which is conducted to strengthen the industries with low performance and reactivating them were also finalized.
Moreover, the increasing of drug trafficking and violence issues in the Northern Province were also discussed and the President requested the Inspector General of Police to make the program to eliminate drug trafficking more efficient.
The Tri Forces have agreed to build houses, supply water, sanitary and other applicable infrastructure and those programs were also properly monitored.
All the line Ministries were informed to provide a list of main strategic list of the projects of Northern and Eastern Provinces.
President invited all the public representatives of the provinces to present suggestions in relation to the development of those areas and the representatives presented their suggestions.
Opposition leader R. Sampanthan, Ministers Mahinda Samarasinghe, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Gayantha Karunathilake, D.M. Swaminathan, Rauff Hakeem, and public representatives, Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray, Eastern Province Governor Rohitha Bogollagama, the Secretary of the Presidential task force to develop Northern and Eastern Provinces P. Sivagnanasothy, and Secretary to Ministry of Finance Dr. R.H.S.. Samaratunga, and other secretaries of ministries, district secretaries of North Eastern Provinces and government officers, officers of Tri Forces, Inspector-General of Police and heads of security forces were present in this event.
