AHAMED LEBBE ASHRAFF
KINNIYA: Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said in parliament today that the deaths of six people including four children in Kinniya tantamount murder.
The minister was speaking in the parliament on Tuesday,November 23 about the boat tragedy in the Kinniya lagoon which occurred early morning on Tuesday when the children were going to school.
The ferry service is maintained by the local council in Trincomalee and the passengers onboard were not wearing life jackets. Two elders and four children in school uniforms died in the tragedy. Two of the 18 injured were transferred to Killinochi and Troncomalee hospital since their condition were in danger.
Angry residents of Kinniya started attacking the residence of their areas MP M S Thowfeek, who was alleged to have given the contract of ferrying the passengers though the local council.
The construction of a bridge was undertaken only three months ago.
Former diplomat, A.L.M.Lafeer who hails from the same area had condemned the lackadaisical attiude of the authorities who have not paid any attention for the lives of the commuters in the ferry.
In his comments in his FB,Lafeer has said : “ It’s 50 meter simple bridge was a long due. President Sirisena at his election campaign in Kinniya pledged that his first project will be building this bridge, and people of Kinniya voted him overwhelmingly with 87 % of toall poled in Kinniya. Fondation was laid 3 months ago with funfare. It’s a 3 year project and the inauguration was timed to coincide with the forthcoming election season to fool the people and milk their votes. The hero M. P was M. S Thowfeek famous for 20A and for compromising Muslims rights at the oversight committee on the National Security. Thousands people, students, officers, vendors etc, and vehicles cross this short bridge from Kurincharkerny and beyond to reach mainland Kinniya daily.
It is a common knowledge that before embark on the projects of this nature, an alternative route should have been built. This is the absolute responsibility of the Government, RDA, contractor and Thowfeek M. P. the representative of the people in the area. The question is whether the government made additional allocation of money to build alternate temporary transport facilities, and if the answer was yes what happened to that money?.
Failure to fulfill this cardinal requirement put the commuters to use another road which is 5 km and one and a half hour walk or 20 minutes drive to reach the mainland causing untold hardship and expenses to the ordinary citizens. Instead of undertaking this huge responsibility towards the people, it is said that the DS / M.P / contractor authorized a layman.. mechanic to build and operate a 15 feet ferry like floatila which cannot be called by any means a ferry to ferry the commuters. The charges for three wheels Rs. 50, motor bikes Rs. 30 push bikes Rs. 20 If not for this generous inventor people would have been forced to swim in the lagoon to reach the other shore and lose their life in hundreds everyday . This income generated considerable jealousy in the minds of others and tha prompted them to approach the DS M. P, for their patronage and that resulted in allowing this second party too to build andoperate another dilapidated floatila. This the flotilla which was just an array of planks fixed over the empty plastic barrels that collapsed and ended in today’s tragedy.”
