TOWARDS OUR PLACES – Elephant Pass
The Kandawalai Divisional Secretariat in the Kilinochchi District has been a world-famous military base since the time of the Portuguese. The Portuguese built a fort in 1760 to separate and monitor the Vanni and Jaffna. Then the Dutch rebuilt it in 1776 and later the place was under British control. In 1952 the Sri Lankan Army built a big military base in this place.
The LTTE tried to capture this place since the beginning year 2000. Finally they captured the place on April 22nd, 2000. Elephant Pass is not only a place for war, but it is also a bird sanctuary and a salty sea lake. It is found above 03 km above sea level. Many important places have been destroyed in Elephant Pass by the Sri Lankan military, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British.
It is the primary salt production center of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was started as a salt marsh in 1938 during the British colonization. Large salt marshes cover 777 acres in Elephant Pass. And a salt march of 1169 acres were found in Kulanchatheevu. Once a time there had been produced chemicals from salt here in Paranthan Chemical Factory. Chemicals were produced and some handworks were going on.
50 thousand to 80 thousand metric tons of salt was produced annually. Before 1990 the rest of the country’s salt was exported. It is the largest economic force in the North. Elephant Pass is a prosperous area that can directly provide employment to 3000 people if the industry is in full swing. Not only was there salt production here. Elephant Pass was also a place for fishing of small fishes and prawns.
The reason for the excellent pure white salt yield here is due to the high temperature, high winds and low rainfall as a nature reason. Elephant Pass is also known as a bird sanctuary. The Chundikulam Bird Sanctuary is an important sanctuary in Sri Lanka. Thadduvankoddi is a place near Elephant Pass, where people from here live by fishing in Elephant Pass.
Iranaimadu area comes with fresh water to the Elephant Pass to the Indian Ocean after the rainwater washes all the dumped garbage from Kilinochchi and Mullaitheevu.
Elephant Pass is an area in the blood of Tamils. It is a place with martyrs sacrificing and blood. It is a place where Tamils breathe. A place that shows the world not only salt, but also deep emotions of Tamils.
Written by
– Vinoth
Sources
– Internet
– Wikipedia
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