In a special ceremony held yesterday (14), at Batticaloa District, High Commissioner of India Taranjit Singh Sandhu dedicated houses built under the Indian Housing Project in Batticaloa for possession by beneficiaries.

Government of India has committed a total of 4000 houses in the Eastern Province, stated the Indian High Commission issuing a press release. This is in addition to 42000 houses built under grants by Government of India in the North and 14000 currently constructing also under grants in the Upcountry.

Earlier during his visit to Trincomalee, High commissioner met the Governor of Eastern Province, addressed the gathering of Eastern Province officers and took blessings at Thiru Koneswaran Temple.

The High Commissioner was the Chief Guest at the convocation ceremony of Eastern University, Batticaloa and addressed the gathering. He paid respects to the Gandhi statue at Batticaloa. He met the representatives of TNA from Eastern Province and had a brief discussion with a delegation from various Mosque Federations.

High Commissioner also visited the Trade Facilitation Center by first ever cooperative society of war affected women in the eastern province in Kallady. Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) –an Indian based community based organization, with the grant assistance of LKR 197 million from the Government of India has executed the project. The objective is to empower war affected women by building their capacities in vocations, leadership, entrepreneurial and management skills by setting up Trade Facilitation Center and Community Learning Centre in Batticaloa and Ampara, which helps them to provide skills and value chain support to provide livelihood opportunities. 

Under the project, SEWA has trained 40 war affected/destitute women trainees from Batticaloa District. These women were trained in various vocational subjects such as Textiles and Garments; Surface Ornamentation; Agro food processing; Computers; Enterprise Development; Solar lantern and Roof rain water harvesting. 

Other projects undertaken by India in the social sector include construction of surgical unit in teaching Hospital Batticaloa, Upgradation of Swami Vipulananda Aesthetic School in Batticaloa, construction of 3400 toilets in Batticaloa District, and Model village in all three districts.

India’s overall commitment of assistance to Sri Lanka for people-oriented development partnership projects stands at a total of around US$ 3 billion, out of which US$ 550 million is pure grant assistance, further stated the release.