New security procedures send prices up

By P.A.Anthony Mark, Mannar corr.

Commercial vehicles from Mannar and Vavuniya are stopped at Medawachchiya due to new procedures introduced by the security forces from June 1, forcing traders to reload their goods to another lorry at Medawachchiya.

Lorries bringing goods from the South are not permitted to go to Mannar and Vavuniya and the same procedure has to be followed.
“There is a big delay in checking with long queues and sometimes we have to wait for a day or two at Medawachchiya. This means having to pay the driver and cleaner and also the owner of the lorry an extra amount for the delay,” a lorry driver said.

Vegetable vendors in Mannar closed their shops for three days and complained to the Mannar GA, the Army high-ups and the Vavuniya SSP that due to delays in checking their vegetables get spoilt and rot resulting in losses. Fisher traders too complained that the checking at Mannar and again at Medawachchiya was time consuming. They are able to arrive in Colombo only around 3 a.m. having left Mannar around 8 p.m. the previous day.

By this time the fish had gone stale resulting in people not willing to buy the rotten fish, a trader said. As a result of these complaints, fish and vegetable lorries are now permitted to go to Colombo direct sans reloading. The citizens’ committee and the traders committee had met the Brigade Commander of the Army last Friday and he promised to do away with the new procedure soon.