Members of the North Sri Lankan Provincial Council have opened a bank account to collect funds for flood relief in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu, C.V.K.Sivagnanam, Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) said on Monday.

“The account at the Hatton National Bank in Jaffna will enable people to put their contributions into it. The account will be open till December 20. The next day we will be handing over the collection to the Indian Consul General in Jaffna. He will forward it to the Indian High Commission in Colombo which will send it to the Tamil Nadu government,” Sivagnanam said.
“This is a token of our solidarity with the people of Chennai and Tamil Nadu,” he added.

Sivagnanam clarified that the NPC, as such, did not pass any resolution on the flood havoc, but some its members had met on Saturday and taken the decision to open a flood relief account.

Earlier, Northern Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran had issued a statement saying that the Board of Ministers would meet to decide what kind of assistance should be sent to Chennai.

Meanwhile, the Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) led by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, has appealed to people to respond to its drive to collect funds and other relief material for the people of Tamil Nadu.

Informed sources in Colombo denied a report emanating from India, that Sri Lankan cricket legends Kumar Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan had announced contributions to the Chennai flood relief fund. (New India Express)

-Agencies