'About
100 industrial plants were severly damaged or destroyed, including 20
garment factories. The cost of industrial reconstruction was estimated
at 2,000 million rupees (£55 million). This did not include damaged
shops.'' (The Guardian, 9 August 1983)
The New York Times reported in early August: ''The shells of (Tamil owned) businesses line Galle Road, the main waterfront thoroughfare advertising the names that marked them for destruction. Lakshmi Mahal, pawbroker, or Ram Gram stores and florist.. Damage estimates are uncertain and incomplete, but the total economic loss has been placed at $300 million.''
''Seventeen industrial complexes belonging to some of the leading Tamil... industrialists were razed to the ground... Several cinemas owned by Tamils were destroyed... Probably the worst affected area was the Pettah, the commercial centre of Colombo, where Tamil and Indian traders played a dominant role. Hardly a single Tamil or Indian establishment was left standing.'' (Eye witness account, Sri Lanka: Racism and the Authoritarian State - Race and Class, Volume XXVI, A.Sivanandan and Hazel Waters, Institute of Race Relations)
The New York Times reported in early August: ''The shells of (Tamil owned) businesses line Galle Road, the main waterfront thoroughfare advertising the names that marked them for destruction. Lakshmi Mahal, pawbroker, or Ram Gram stores and florist.. Damage estimates are uncertain and incomplete, but the total economic loss has been placed at $300 million.''
''Seventeen industrial complexes belonging to some of the leading Tamil... industrialists were razed to the ground... Several cinemas owned by Tamils were destroyed... Probably the worst affected area was the Pettah, the commercial centre of Colombo, where Tamil and Indian traders played a dominant role. Hardly a single Tamil or Indian establishment was left standing.'' (Eye witness account, Sri Lanka: Racism and the Authoritarian State - Race and Class, Volume XXVI, A.Sivanandan and Hazel Waters, Institute of Race Relations)
