Sri Lanka Clears Transport Projects Connecting Jaffna To Tamil Nadu, Puducherry: Report

Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda said the two new connectivity projects linking Jaffna with TN and Puducherry will bring pilgrims from South India for temple tourism.

SL Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda | Credit: Twitter/@DrSJaishankar

Chennai: The Sri Lankan cabinet has given nod to two long pending projects — a flight from Jaffna to Tiruchy in Tamil Nadu and a ferry service from Kankesanthurai in Jaffna to Karaikal in Puducherry — connecting the island nation to India. Quoting Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda, a Parliamentarian from Jaffna district, a report in The Indian Express said the projects will bring pilgrims from south India for temple tourism to the northern parts of Sri Lanka.

The proposed projects will also contribute to Sri Lanka's economic activity in Tamil north, which has seen a long civil war. 

The ferry service could begin next month. Devananda told IE that the minister concerned will study the proposal and put it before President Rajapaksa.

The project connecting India and Sri Lanka had been on the wishlist for a long time. The transport serices linking Tamil Nadu and northern Sri Lanka were in use until 1970s, and a proposal to reestablish the connection was mooted after the end of the civil war in 2009. However, Colombo had responded in the negative then. 

A decade later, the Palaly airport, which was used as a military airfield, opened for international civilian flights in November 2019, and operated Jaffna-Chennai ATR flights thrice. However, the airport was shut down once again due to the pandemic.

Quoting Devananda, the IE report said the flights would start after the airport is refurbished.