Rail track occupiers ordered to evacuate

Jaffna special corr

Those residing in railway track reservations between Pallai and Kankesanthurai have been ordered to vacate the railway properties before January next year. The Government Agent, Jaffna, has instructed Divisional Secretaries to take action to evict the trespassers on railway properties between Pallai and Kankesanthurai.

There was no railway service during the past twenty years between Vavuniya and Kankesanthurai as the war was intense in the North. The landless people seized this opportunity and grabbed the lands and buildings belonging to the railway department and put up houses on the railway track. They even built temples on these lands after removing the rails. The rails between Vavuniya and Kankesanthurai had been stolen to build bunkers and permanent dwelling houses.

It was decided to start the laying of railway track in January at a meeting at the Jaffna Secretariat presided by the Jaffna Government Agent. The railway track laying will be carried out in three stages. The first is from Vavniya to Thandikulam which has been completed. The second stage is from Thandikulam to Omanthai which has also been completed. The third stage is from Omanthai to Pallai and then from Pallai to Kankesanthurai.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/12/27/news32.asp