Sivajilingam stages drama to halt archaeological survey

Text and Pix by Dinasena Rathugamage

A group of Tamil politicians led by former Northern Provincial Council Member M. K. Sivajilingam and former Chairman of the Vadamarachchi East Pradeshiya Sabha, Thyagaraja Nirosh recently obstructed the officials of the Department of Archaeology engaged in carrying out excavations near the Nilavarai bottomless well in Jaffna.

The politicians arrived at the site with a large number of supporters on Thursday and threatened the officials not to conduct their surveying and further research on the well. Officials informed the politicians that there was a building belonging to the archeological reserve next to the well and they had been instructed to conduct excavations to conserve the site.

However, the politicians said that it was a ploy by the government to acquire the lands belonging to the people. The government had deployed archaeologists to grab their lands, the politicians told the media vowing that they would never allow the government to take the traditional lands of the Tamils.

Nilavarai in the Jaffna District is popular for a natural underground water well (called Nilavarai Bottomless well).