Indo – Lanka ferry to resume

India and Sri Lanka have agreed to resume the ferry service between Rameshwaram and Talaimannar within the next two months, Additional Secretary of the Indian External Affairs Ministry P S Raghavan?said.
The service was suspended in 2012.
India has also extended financial grants to businesses in northern Sri Lanka, ravaged by the nearly three-decade-long civil war, to promote economic development and prosperity in the country, the Press Trust of India reported.
Raghavan visited the former stronghold of the LTTE in Kilinochchi yesterday to award grants to some 1,233 small and medium scale businesses.
“The government of India will be with you in your economic development and prosperity”, Raghavan, part of a team of officials with a 5-member Indian parliamentary delegation, told the gathering.
The 1,233 businesspersons received cash grants ranging between Sri Lankan rupees 50,000-200,000 based on the scale of devastation suffered by them due to military clashes between the government troops and the LTTE.
Raghavan said that building of two railway tracks to link Talaimannar with Pallai in Jaffna and the building of 50,000 homes are two key Indian assistance-funded projects in the north.
India will also fund the commissioning of a factory to process palmyra-related products.