Melinchimunai revived by Commercial Bank’s gift of drinking water supply facility

Saturday, 18 October 2014 03:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Bank also helps Jaffna islanders develop alternate source of income through seaweed cultivation

The gift of a regular supply of life sustaining water has eased one of the many hardships faced by the residents of a small village located on a geological formation of limestone on an island off Jaffna. For the 225 families of Melinchimunai, on the island of Kayts, the donation by the Commercial Bank CSR Trust of a Massey Ferguson 4-wheel tractor, a 4,000-litre water bowser and 100 25-litre water cans represents a tangible improvement in their quality of life.

Commercial Bank’s Regional Manager Northern Region Roy Nicholas with the bowser donated by the bank to the people of Melinchimunai Melinchimunai and its surrounding villages are situated on a geological formation of limestone that offers no proper water sources for the basic needs of their inhabitants, most of whose livelihood is fishing. The villagers have had to cope with a severe scarcity of water for many years, until the intervention of Commercial Bank in the form of a water supply project that will directly benefit more than 400 people. Using the tractor and bowser donated by the Bank, they can now transport water from Chaddy or the Jaffna mainland to their village and store the water in the cans provided. The Bank’s donation to the people of Melinchimunai was presented by Commercial Bank Regional Manager – Northern Region Roy Nicholas to Rev. Fr. E. S. C. Mariathas, Parish Priest of St. Sebastian’s Church, Karampon, Kayts, who is also the Patron of the Melinchimunai Development Society. The project was coordinated by the Development Credit Department (DCD) of Commercial Bank and the staff of the Bank’s Velanai branch. “Being able to help needy communities with projects of this nature gives us a great deal of satisfaction, because we know that we are truly making a difference,” said Nandika Buddhipala, Commercial Bank’s Chief Financial Officer and Trustee of the Bank’s CSR Trust. “In many instances like Melinchimunai, all that is needed is to provide the wherewithal to enable the community to overcome a hurdle. The fact that there are organisations like Commercial Bank that care for their wellbeing can give them new hope and motivation and rejuvenate the community.”

Besides helping the village of Melinchimunai resolve its water problem, Commercial Bank also organised an awareness programme on the economics of seaweed cultivation to encourage the fishing communities of the islands of Jaffna to develop an alternate source of income. The programme conducted at the Bank’s Velanai Branch was attended by 98 fishermen from the islands of Kayts, Mandathivu, Punkuduthivu, Nagadeepa, Delft and Analathivu. Resource persons for the program included Rajani Vijayalan, Senior Manager at the Jaffna Regional Office of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (financial literacy), Dr. M. Shanmugam, General Manager – R&D at AquAgri Processing Ltd. Tamil Nadu (seaweed cultivation), K. Sivaram, Head Of Business Operations at Hayleys Aquaagri Ltd. and S. Saleepan, Fisheries Development Officer (assistance/regulations in seaweed cultivation). Commercial Bank’s Velanai Branch was established in 2011, with the intention of serving the communities of Velanai, Kayts, Mandathivu, Punkuduthivu and Analathivu islands. The Velanai branch has granted micro-finance loans worth of Rs. 90 million to 588 fishermen to date with the help of 12 fishermen’s societies.