"The Indian project that seeks to provide electricity to Sri Lanka's war-hit east has run into rough weather amid allegations that it will displace Tamils who have lived in the area for generations," IANS agency reported. "India is getting involved in a highly controversial project. The rights of the people are not being respected," the report quoted a rights activist as saying.
Champoor is a large and populous fishing village overlooking Trincomalee port. The Sri Lanka military seized Champoor from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after heavy fighting that left at least 350 civilians dead and hundreds injured and depopulated the area. Colombo declared Champoor a High Security Zone, making it out of bounds for civilians, most of whom now live in refugee camps in the neighbouring district of Batticaloa.
"Indian arguments that the coal-based plant is meant to benefit locals in Trincomalee are having no effect on rights activists and the thousands who fled the region after fighting between the Tamil Tigers and the military," the report said.
A joint venture company of the NTPC and the Ceylon Electricity Board will implement the project spread over 500 acres of land. A jetty is also to come up in Champoor, according to the current plan.
"The NTPC project will affect a large number of people," the report quoted K. Thurairatnasingham, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP from Trincomalee, as saying. "We have conveyed our feelings to Indian diplomats. Our people cannot accept this," he added. "This is where our forefathers lived. It is the only land in a largely dry area with water resources suitable for cultivation.We are not saying we don't want the project. But why build it in an area that will force Tamils to give up for ever their ancestral land?" the MP asked, according to the IANS report.
1 comment:
india joining hands with mahindha to loot tamileelam land and enabling mahindha to have singala settlements;now tigers has to fight with invisible enemy,apart from fighting with visible enemy!
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