The Government of India is undertaking a project for providing 10,000 bicycles at a cost of 67 million Sri Lankan rupees to returnees, Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, as well as refugees, in the five districts of the war ravaged Northern Province of Sri Lanka.
The objective of the project is to cater to the transportation needs of persons being resettled and to aid revival of their livelihoods. It is expected that provision of a bicycle to the resettled families will provide the necessary mobility and facilitate access to essential services. The intended beneficiaries are being selected from the most vulnerable of the returnees.
A leading Indian manufacturer has been assigned this project by the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka. The supply of bicycles is expected to commence by early November 2011.
The supplier has also undertaken to set up a permanent assembly plant in Vavuniya, which will be used not only for the fulfillment of this supply but also to provide employment to local people on a continuing basis.
In response to requirements projected by the Government of Sri Lanka, New Delhi has once again committed itself to help the war affected people of the North. This time it is with 10,000 bicycles at an estimated cost of 67 million Sri Lankan rupees. Bicycle is a very common mean of transportation in the region. It is expected that provision of a bicycle to the resettled families will provide the necessary mobility and facilitate access to essential services.
The intended beneficiaries are being selected from the most vulnerable of the returnees. The supplier of the bicycles has also undertaken to set up a permanent assembly plant in Vavuniya, which will be used not only for the fulfillment of this supply but also to provide employment to local people on a continuing basis. The supply of bicycles is expected to commence by early November 2011. In another development , Professor M S Swaminathan, the scientific leader of the green revolution movement in India was here at the invitation of the US Embassy to speak on a biotechnology Conference.
