| Valaichchenai Paper Mill | |
|---|---|
 Dilapidated buildings at Paper Mill | |
 | |
| Built | 1955 |
| Location | Valaichchenai, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka |
| Coordinates | 7°55′34.04″N81°30′13.95″E / 7.9261222°N 81.5038750°E Coordinates: 7°55′34.04″N81°30′13.95″E / 7.9261222°N 81.5038750°E |
| Industry | Paper mill |
Valaichchenai Paper Mill is a state-owned paper mill located in the town of Valaichchenai, Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. It is considered that this mill is the first paper factory established in Sri Lanka. [1]
Valaichchenai paper mill was established in 1955 with a total investment of about 32 million rupees and it was commissioned for commercial operation in 1956. [2] In 1958 it was renamed as Eastern Paper Mills Corporation. At that time this paper mill was considered as the biggest factory in the Eastern province, especially in the Batticaloa district. In the period of 1970s, the mill had around 3,000 employees. In 1976 it became state-owned and then run as a state venture. [3] With the expansion programme, carried out by the funds generated from the Valaichchennai, a second paper mill was established at Embilipitiya in 1976. These two State corporations satisfied 70% of the total paper demand of the country. [4] The name of the Eastern Paper Mills Corporation was subsequently changed to the National Paper Corporation (NPL). [5]
With the escalation of the Sri Lankan Civil War during the 1990s in the Eastern province, the government implemented new changes in the market policies with regard to the import of paper. That directly caused industrial difficulties for the Paper Corporation and also resulted in the lowering of production levels at the paper mill drastically in the latter part of the 1990s. [6] [7] It was then largely converted into a waste paper recycling centre with a newly established network of collecting sub-centres. [4] As time passed, production operations at the paper mill were disrupted gradually with the reasons of bad financial situation and lack of experienced staff.
After the defeat of LTTE, the government recommenced the operations of the Valaichchenai paper mill again, [8] but which is now on a very low profile.
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The Eastern Province is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19th 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 Northern Province to form the North Eastern Province. The capital of the province is Trincomalee.
Joseph Pararajasingham was a Sri Lankan Tamil civil servant, journalist, businessman and politician. He was Member of Parliament for Batticaloa District from 1990 to 2004 and a National List Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2005. A member of the Tamil National Alliance, he was shot dead on Christmas Day 2005 as he attended midnight mass at St. Mary's Cathedral, Batticaloa.
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Valaichchenai is a town in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. It could also be spelled as Valaichenai or Valachchenai. The world-famous Pasikudah Beach is located about 3 km east of Valaichenai along the Indian Ocean. Pasikudah beach is famous for shallow and calm sea water.
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