In 1985, the government acquired 107 hectare land under Emergency regulations for the extension of the airport and 297 of the 308 families that lost lands were compensated after 1995. But upto 22 March, people were allowed to use the temple, school and the cemetery. Hundreds of people demonstrated on 23 March demanding access.
The LTTE shelled the Batticaloa airport on 6 March. According to the Defence Ministry, the police Special Task Force shot dead four Tigers at Vellaveli on 9 March. Army intelligence officer K Nanthakumar died on 14 March in an LTTE Pistol Group attack. Two days later, six policemen were killed in an attack on a military convoy, on the main Batticaloa-Welikanda supply route.
Reports say that the LTTE executed former PLOTE member Nadarajah Velan, 19, in March at Kommathurai. S Komaleswary, 58, was taken from her home in Kommathurai by unidentified persons and shot dead in late March. In mid-March the Committee of Inquiry into Undue Arrest and Harassment (CIUAH) ordered Batticaloa police to investigate accusations that a PLOTE member operating with the Army is responsible for 602 murders in Batticaloa and Amparai districts.
The government ban on NORAD funded DERBA (Development of Batticaloa) programme and the Asian Development Bank assisted rural electrification project in LTTE-controlled areas in north and west Batticaloa, continue to be in force. The North-East Provincial Council has not allocated any funds for these areas in the year 2000.
Reports say 90% of the rice lands and 95% of the irrigation tanks in Batticaloa District are in LTTE areas. In the district, 119 of the 345 Grama Sevaka (Village Headman) divisions have been declared as uncleared (Tiger held). Some 127,000 people live in these areas.
In Trincomalee District, the LTTE launched an attack on an Army patrol on 5 March at Thoppur killing a soldier. Police say two Tiger cadre were killed in a clash at Gandhinagar two days later. The Army and the LTTE exchanged shells in Muthur on 22 March. Farmer M Raju was killed by a shell.
In late March, thousands of people demonstrated in Trincomalee town demanding Jaffna shipping services to be resumed. The shipping service is now under the newly created Northern Province Rehabilitation Ministry. UNP dissident Sarath Amunugama has been appointed minister. The new ship Lanka Rani is expected to begin services between Jaffna and Trincomalee in April.