The Governor the Northern Province, Reginold Cooray, welcomed over 3,000 pilgrims from Tamil Nadu who had come to worship at the church of St.Anthony in the island of Kachchativu. The Governor was accompanied by his wife and son.
Among the distinguished persons in the gathering were the Consul General of India in Jaffna, A. Natarajan, the Commander of the Sri Lankan navy, Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Central Children Affairs State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran, the Chief Secretary of the Northern Province and the Government Agent of Jaffna. But no member of the Northern Provincial Council dominated by the Tamil National Alliance, including Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran, was present.
The annual festival, which was resumed in 2010 after the conclusion of Eelam War IV, attracted 3252 pilgrims from India and more than 5000 from Lanka this year. Most of them were fishermen and members of their families.
The festival is conducted by the Sri Lankan government and the Jaffna Diocese, with a financial assistance of LKR 25 lakh (US$ 17,400) from the Government of India.
(Courtesy -NIE) -Agencies
