The controversial proposal to build an expressway from Colombo to Katunayake is being opposed by the residents of the area who say that they are being taken for a ride by the authorities concerned, who are not giving them a true picture of the project.
A Welfare Society comprising the residents of Wanawasala, Wattala, Hunupitiya and Mabola have organized a picketing campaign today opposite St. Anne's Church, Wattala to express their dissatisfaction on this proposed expressway.
Secretary of the society B. Fernando said that apart from dislocating over 2,000 families, several religious buildings and schools in the area would also be demolished if this expressway is constructed. "Currently an EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) is being done by the students of the Colombo and Sri Jayawardenapura universities but residents of the areas concerned are making it difficult for the students to carry out the assessment effectively due their dissatisfaction over the project", he said.
The proposed highway will run parallel to the railway track and will cut through Wattala. The residents said that the expressway will not help them in anyway and will have detrimental effects on the environment and will also affect them socially.
The society also alleged that private surveyors came to the area earlier to survey the land to put up culverts and telephone lines but they found that this surveying was done for the proposed highway.
"It was on our insistence that the RDA came to the area about a week ago to explain to us the plan of this project and even then they were evasive and said that there hands were tied when certain questions were asked", they alleged.
The residents said that apart from polluting the environment, they would also have to contend with a lot of noise and vibration when the project is under construction.
Officials of the RDA were not available for comment.
The UNP yesterday called on the government to stop misleading the people and give the correct picture of the situation in Mullaitivu, in view of foreign media reports describing it as a calamity.
In a statement the UNP said the foreign media had announced that the LTTE attack on Mullaitivu army camp was a big calamity for the Sri Lankan army.
The UNP said the President who was also the Defense Minister had left the country without appointing someone to act on her behalf and the government should bear the full responsibility for the loss, due to lack of political leadership and guidance required at a time of crisis like this.
Demanding that the government should lift the censorship and tell the true story from Mullaitivu, the UNP said:
"Up to now the government has been trying to tell people that it has already brought Jaffna under its control and within a couple of months the East also will be cleared. But now it is quit clear from what happened in Jaffna a few days ago and from the defeat and destruction at Mullaitivu that the government has been misleading the people by hiding the actual situation."
A Tamil group, the Action Group of Tamils in Colombo, have protested against the government's move to recruit 10,000 youth for the Samurdhi Movement in Jaffna.
The group has stated that this proposal to 'invade the peninsula under the guise of rehabilitation will only result in the already military occupied areas of Jaffna coming under further subjugation by a new force'.
They have alerted the Tamil people that this government's move is a "planned colonization of the traditional Tamil home land."
The group has claimed that the youths who are not familiar with the Tamil language and customs and culture will not be able to make life comfortable for the Tamils in Jaffna as Minister S. B. Dissanayake has stated.
IGP's of SAARC countries will meet in Colombo on July 29 for a conference on Police matters.
The conference will go on till July 31. They will visit areas out of Colombo. According to sources many issues such as narcotics and drug trafficking will be taken in for discussion.
As a gesture of respect for the scores of Army personnel who have died in defending the Mullaitivu camp, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar yesterday refrained from attending a Hilton dinner given by the Cricket Board in honor of Sri Lanka's World Cup winning cricket team.
The Foreign Minister had been invited by the Board to give an after dinner speech at this official felicitation dinner. But as the gravity of the Mullaitivu calamity began to emerge yesterday, Mr. Kadirgamar sent a letter to the Cricket Board President Upali Dharmadasa saying he will not attend such a grand occasion at a time like this. He said his conscience did not permit him to do so. The Minister's letter states:
"I have to inform you, and I regret having to do so at short notice, that as a gesture of respect for our armed forces who have over the past two days lost hundreds of invaluable lives in defending the Mullaitivu camp and as an expression of sympathy in their hour of grief for the bereaved families of our deceased servicemen, I will not be attending the felicitation dinner which is being held by the Board of Control for Cricket at the Hilton Hotel tonight in honor of our World Cup team. I thank you warmly for inviting me to deliver the after dinner speech on this grand occasion.
"Whilst under normal circumstances it would have given me great pleasure to participate in the celebration of a historic national sporting event, I cannot now, in all conscience, in view of the national tragedy that has befallen us, contemplate making the light hearted, humorous speech that such a convivial occasion would rightly require.
"Our World Cup team has won immense credit for Sri Lanka. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs I am personally aware of the worldwide prestige their victory has brought us. They have generated for Sri Lanka in a few weeks highly favorable publicity that decades of public relations work has failed to achieve. In cricket playing countries our team is admired for its technical prowess. Even in countries where the intricacies of cricket are unknown the performance of our team - their determination and tenacity on the field of play, their gentlemanly behavior on and off the field, their charm, and above all, the inspiring team spirit they displayed throughout the tournament - has earned for them, and for our country, universal acclaim."
"I wish to offer to our young cricketers a special round of applause for demonstrating so vividly to our own people that when individual egos are harmonized in pursuit of a common goal, when players support and sustain each other in adversity, when social and racial considerations are eliminated in order to forge unity of purpose, success is assured. In our plural society they have set an example which all should follow in every sphere of national life. I thank our World Cup team for bringing great honor to our country. I salute them. I hope that as a team they will go from success to success, remaining disciplined, dedicated to their sport, facing equably victory and defeat and always playing together as a united team.
"When the time comes for my speech tonight I request you to be so kind as to read out this letter, so that it will be clear to the audience that my absence does not in any manner whatsoever imply disrespect for the Board of Control and our World Cup team."
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