Our prupose of visit to Sri Lanka has been fulfilled – Swaraj

The Indian all party delegation leader Sushma Swaraj has said that their purpose of visit to Sri Lanka has been fulfilled as they could see for themselves that the Indian assisted ongoing projects are being implemented out successfully, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Economic Development.

It said the Indian delegation visited the Lakshman Kadirgamar welfare village (Menik Farm) in Vavuniya and interacted with the people and witnessed the facilities available.

The delegation next visited Puliyankulam and Mankulam areas.  There they visited Indian assisted rail track rehabilitation project.  The delegation had a brief discussion at the Economic Development Ministry Training Centre at Puliyankulam.  Later the delegation accompanied by Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa visited Mullaitivu District General Hospital where they donated medical equipment worth of around Rs 89 million for the people in the North. After that Swaraj declared opened the Indian aided housing scheme consisting 50 houses at Veliyamullai in the Maritimepattu AGA division.

Thereafter the visiting Indian delegation attended a ceremony at Thanneer Ootru Tamil Maha Vidyalaya at Mullavaikkal where they handed over a school building rehabilitated under the Indian assisted scheme.  150 bicycles, agricultural equipment were also distributed to needy people.

“Children spoke about their Schooling and the adults spoke about the difficulties they went through in the past. Also we witnessed how development has being enacted and the progress of projects being done with Indian assistance,” Swaraj further said in Mullaitivu.

After a busy tour of several areas in the north yesterday, the Joint Parliamentary Delegation from India said that it had helped them in gaining a clear understanding and concise information about the ongoing development programs.

Also the delegation expressed their complete satisfaction on the interactions they had with the people which they described as very informative in understanding their issues, needs and how the ongoing work has helped them

On the occasion Swaraj said that the Indian government was also funding rehabilitation of 79 schools in the north.

The delegation expressed their satisfaction at the Indian assisted resettlement program and the ongoing development efforts in the area. There are three ongoing projects in the conflict affected areas implemented with Indian financial assistance; health care development projects, housing projects and rehabilitation of schools project. “We can see ourselves improvements in these three sectors,” said the members of the delegation.