Not a single Tamil officer was appointed to the six-member Trincomalee District Local Authorities Delimitation Committee that is headed by the Sri Lankan Government Agent (SLGA) who is a retired Major General of the occupying Sri Lanka Army, civil sources in Trincomalee said. Four members are Sinhalese, including the SLGA, and the remaining two are Muslims.
The Trincomalee District Local Authorities Delimitation Committee is empowered to demarcate the boundaries of the existing wards and carve out new wards of the 13 local authorities under the Amended Local Government Ordinance.
The three Sinhalese members, one from Department of Survey, the Divisional Secretary of Gomarankadawela and Assistant Commissioner of Elections. Of the two Muslims, one is from the Department of Statistics and the other from the Provincial Council.
The Assistant Commissioner of Local Government and the Provincial Commissioner of the Local Government are Tamils and their position in the government service is connected with the local authorities.
But, none of them were appointed to the delimitation committee thus creating the impression among Eezham Tamils that a Tamil member had been purposely ignored with a hidden motive to conduct the delimitation of existing wards and carve out new wards of the thirteen local authorities in favour of Sinhalese and Muslims against the interests of Tamils.
The first meeting of the committee was held on Tuesday.
Of the 13 local authorities two are Urban Councils, namely Trincomalee Urban Council and Ki’n’niyaa Urban Council and eleven Piratheasa Chapais (PS).
Currently, the Trincomalee Urban Council and two Piratheasa Chapais, Verukal and Trincomalee Town and Gravets are controlled by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
In the island-wide Local Authorities Delimitation Committee three members are Sinhalese, one Tamil and the other is a Muslim.
TN