Feasibilities for Establishing a New Divisional Secretariat Division for Thenmaradchchi Region

Abstract

The administrative divisions should be effective and efficient. Then people can get good service. Decentralization is one of the actions taken to provide a better service to the citizens. So the Divisional Secretariat Offices (DSOs) act as development centers at the regional level on behalf of the Government. The administrative unit of Thenmaradchchi region in Jaffna District, is not known for efficiency of serving its people, neither is regional development found in this area. The eastern part of this region is highly affected due to the war and is without proper infrastructure. The allocation of government funds is in equal portions in all DSO divisions. So it is impossible to develop a vast area with limited funds. It is important that people who suffer continuously should also involve themselves in development activities. The DSO in this area, is unable to satisfy the increasing needs of the people. Therefore, this area was selected for this research. Evaluation of feasibilities for establishing a new DS division for this area is important for its development. The study aims to find a suitable area for establishing a new DSO and identifying the total area for providing the service. SWOT analysis, descriptive statistical analysis and spatial analysis are used for this purpose. Opportunities for the resources, area for the service, problems faced, population, land area, road network, land use and administrative service are taken into consideration for data processing. All these aspects’ feasibilities are separately analyzed. The results helped to select which area would be suitable for the new DSO. Four service centers, such as Mirusuvil, Varani, Kodikamam and Kaithadi were selected for the study. According to the analysis four kinds of suitability were known. “100 – 76%” was considered highly suitable; “75 – 51%” was suitable, “50 – 26%” moderate suitable and “25 – 00” was not suitable. Total area for the service and feasibilities could be found from these analyses.