Northern Province

Northern Flag 

The Northern Province is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19^th century but did not have any legal status until 1987 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka established provincial councils. Between 1988 and 2006 the province was temporarily merged with the Eastern Province to form the North Eastern Province. The capital of the province is Jaffna. The majority of the Sri Lankan Civil Wor was played out in this province.

History

Parts of present day Northern Province were part of the pre colonial Jaffna kingdom. Other parts were ruled by Vanniar Chieftains who paid tribute to the Jaffna kingdom. The province then came under Portuguese, Dutch and British control. In 1815 the British gained control of the entire island of Ceylon. They divided the island into three ethnic based administrative structures: Low Country Sinhalese, Kandyan Sinhalese and Tamil. The Northern Province was part of the Tamil administration. In 1833, in accordance with the recommendations of the Colebrooke Cameron Commission, the ethnic based administrative structures were unified into a single administration divided into five geographic provinces. The districts of Jaffna,Mannar, Nuvarakalaviya and Vanni formed the new Northern Province. Nuvarakalaviya was transferred to the newly created North Central Province in 1873.
The Indo-Lanka Accord signed on 29 July 1987 required the Sri Lankan government to devolve powers to the provinces and, in the interim, to merge the Northern and Eastern provinces into one administrative unit. The accord required a referendum to be held by 31 December 1988 in the Eastern Province to decide whether the merger should be permanent. Crucially, the accord allowed the Sri Lankan president to postpone the referendum at his discretion.

On 14 November 1987 the Sri Lankan Parliament passed the 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987, establishing provincial councils. On September 2 and 8 1988 President J R Jayawardene issued proclamations enabling the Northern and Eastern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected Council. The North-East Province was born.
The proclamations were only meant to be a temporary measure until a referendum was held in the Eastern Province on a permanent merger between the two provinces. However, the referendum was never held and successive Sri Lankan presidents issued proclamations annually extending the life of the "temporary" entity.
The merger was bitterly opposed by Sri Lankan nationalists. The combined North-East Province occupied one fourth of Sri Lanka. The thought of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlling this province, directly or indirectly, alarmed them greatly. On 14 July 2006, after a long campaign against the merger, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna political party filed three separate petitions with the Supreme Court requesting a separate provincial council for the East. On 16 October 2006 the Supreme Court ruled that the proclamations issued by President J R Jayewardene were null and void and had no legal effect. The North-East Province was formally demerged into the Northern and Eastern provinces on 1 January 2007. Much of the Northern Province was under the control of rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for many years during the civil war. The entire province was recaptured by the Sri Lankan military in 2009.

Geography

Northern Province is located in the north of Sri Lanka and is just 22 miles (35 km) from India. It is connected with Indian mainland by mythical Adam's Bridge (also known as Sethu Paalam or Rama's Bridge). It has an area of 8,884 square kilometres (3,430 sq mi).The province is surrounded by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay to the west, Palk Strait to the north west, the Bay of Bengal to the north and east and the Eastern, North Central and North Western provinces to the south. The province is divided into two distinct geographic areas :- Jaffna peninsula and the Vanni. Jaffna peninsula is irrigated by undeground aquifers fed by wells whereas the Vanni has irrigation tanks fed by perennial rivers. Major rivers include:-

• Akkarayan Aru
• Aruvi Aru
• Kanakarayan Aru
• Kodalikkallu Aru
• Mandekal Aru
• Nay Aru
• Netheli Aru
• Pali Aru
• Pallavarayankaddu Aru
• Parangi Aru
• Per Aru
• Piramenthal Aru
• Theravil Aru

The province has a number of lagoons, the largest being

• Jaffna Lagoon
• Nanthi Kadal
• Chundikkulam Lagoon
• Vadamarachchi Lagoon
• Uppu Aru Lagoon
• Kokkilai lagoon
• Nai Aru Lagoon
• Chalai Lagoon

Most of the islands around Sri Lanka are to be found to the west of the Northern Province. The largest islands are :-

• Velanaitivu (Kayts)
• Neduntivu (Delft)
• Karaitivu
• Pungudutivu
• Mandativu

Northern Province is covered in tropical forests, with numerous rivers flowing through them. The north-west coast is part of the deep Cauvery (Kaveri) River Basin of south-east India, which has been collecting sediments from the highlands of India and Sri Lanka since the breakup of Gondwanaland

Transport

Transport infrastructure in the province is poorly developed and limits economic activity Most people still use bullock carts for transportation.

Road

Major roads in Province are divided into two categories:

• A Class roads or National Highways - Maintained and controlled by Central Government.
• B Class roads or Provincial Highways - Maintained and controlled by Provincial Government.

There are number of underdeveloped C and D Class roads in the province.

Rail

Sri Lanka Railways operates the country railway network, includingthe Northern Line and the Mannar Line, in the Northern Province.
Most of the railways were developed during the British colonial period.The railway lines between Vavuniya, Jaffna, and Kankesanthurai and between Medawachchiya and Talaimannar were destroyed during the civil war. For a time during reconstruction the Northern Line operated south of Pallai, while the Mannar Line operates between Medawachchiya and Madhu Road, but by 2015 it was reconstructed past Jaffna to its terminus at Kankesanthirai. Both lines are under reconstruction to restore the original network and upgrade the operating technology used.

Air

Airways and airports are underdeveloped in this province. Palaly Airport is the primary airport in the province, once an international airport that had regular passenger flight service to Colombo and Trichirapalli, India. It is under the control of the Sri Lanka Navy now and is planned to be turned into an International airport again with the help of India. Daily flights between Colombo and Jaffna are available. There are a few small aiports and airstrips in Vavuniya and Iranamadu .

Districts

Northern Districts

Jaffna District	-    Jaffna
Kilinochchi District	-    Kilinochchi
Mannar District	-    Mannar
Vavuniya District	-    Vavuniya
Mullaitivu District	-    Mullaitivu

External links

Eastern Provincial Council

If you interest to know more about the other district in Sri Lanka followed Navigation to it

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