President Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the District Development Committee meeting in Jaffna today, urged the TNA led Northern Provincial Council to stop delaying development work in the North  due to petty political agendas.

“Politics and development are two different things. Mixing people's well being and politics will hinder development in the province,” the President said addressing the Development Committee meeting which he chaired soon after opening the newly constructed railway station in Jaffna.

The President also commended the contribution made by farmers of the North to make Sri Lanka a self-sufficient country.

“When I traveled on the Yal Devi train to Jaffna, I saw the way the former battlefields had become paddy fields,” the President said. “The Northern Provincial council should work with the government to bring water to the province. People of the North need water.  We have planned to bring water from the Moragahakanda Project,” he said.

“Iranamadu Tank has not been renovated for the past 92 years. There is no point in talking politics to provide water,” President Mahinda Rajapaksa asserted.

“ From 2005 to 2013, approximately 124 km of road have been rehabilitated in the Vavuniya District.The Government has invested over Rs. 1 billion to improve the health sector in the Kilinochchi district,” he said while adding that For the Vavuniya District from 2005 to 2013, the Government has invested approximately Rs. 35 billion.

Chief minister of the North C.V. wigneswaramn was not present at the Development Committee meeting today. In a letter to the President which was sent last Friday explaining his inability to take part in the meeting, Wigneswaran said  that the President failed to honour the commitment to change the NP Chief Secretary which he had promised nine months ago, on 2 January.

The letter also stated that he had said that he would "not wait for a week" to change the Chief Secretary, but "unfortunately" he has not yet honoured the commitment. "The delay has resulted in legal action by the holder of the office of Chief Secretary," Wignewaran said.

He further said,  it's evident from all actions of the Governor, Rehabilitation Minister and the Chief Secretary that there is not only a dual power centre in the NPC, which is working at cross purposes, but there is also an usurpation of the constitutional authority vested in the Provincial Administration by the Governor and other Central ministers.