The Sri Lankan government said Wednesday that it has decided to relax stringent security procedures that prevailed on the transportation of goods to the north with the conclusion of the island's long drawn-out civil war.

Jayantha Gamage, a senior deputy inspector-general of police said new procedures will come into force from Wednesday.

"On the defense secretary's instructions we have relaxed the procedures. From July 1 it will no longer be required to unload the cargo being taken to the north at the Medawachchiya security check point and reload them after checks," Gamage said.

However, the personnel and vehicle checks would carry on as normal at Medawachchiya, a north central provincial town about 230km north of Colombo.

Due to the military conflict between the government troops and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) all vehicles and people arriving at Medawachchiya from both north and south were subjected to stringent security checks.

All lorries carrying goods were unloaded and reloaded at Medawchchiya as part of the strict security procedures.

Officials say with the conclusion of the war the government now wants the speeding up of the reconstruction drive in the north once controlled by the LTTE.

The relaxation of the security procedures was aimed at facilitating the flow of transport to the north, officials said.

The LTTE, which had been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east for more than three decades, were defeated by the troops last month with all the 15,000-sq-km territory being recaptured by the troops.

Source: Xinhua