The humanitarian aid sent by Tamil Diaspora through the Mercy Mission ship 'Captain Ali' which had many obstacles for the last 5 months or more in reaching the poor IDPs held in Sri Lankan internment camps, is now finally seeing the light of day and is only a few days away from being released.
The Sri Lankan customs was holding back the aid consignments for displaced Tamils for months demanding the payments of Value Added Tax (VAT) & Nation Building Tax (NBT) that amounted to millions of rupees.
Finally the Presidential Secretariat agreed to pay the tax amount.
The cheque amounting to Rs. 2 million rupees was handed over to the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) on Friday, a further Rs. 500,000 was also paid by the SLRCS which included taxes from the 6th Of October to the 16th and previous unpaid port charges.
Mr. Surein Peiris, Deputy Director General of the SLRCS said that the goods are planned to be cleared out from the docks on Monday after the Sri Lanka Standard Institute carry out tests to ascertain the quality and state of the perishable goods in the 884 tons of aid at the port.
Mr. Peiris was hopeful that the goods will be transported out of the port on Wednesday and that after storing them at the paddy market; the aid will be distributed among the IDPs with the collaboration of the government.
