President wants IDPs resettled within three months
Suraj A. Bandara
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed that immediate action be
taken to resettle all Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are in
welfare centres within three months and close all welfare centres in the
North.
A family unit will be given Rs. 50,000, food items for six months and
20 roofing sheets. Earlier, the financial assistance was limited to only
Rs. 25,000 per family unit.
Plans are underway to recultivate around 100,000 hectares of paddy
lands which had been abandoned for a long time due to the war situation
in the North region.
Chidren�s education will be promoted under this program. Twenty eight
newly constructed schools have been opened and another 12 are to be
opened in the Vavuniya district soon.
Around 20,000 IDPs in the Vavuniya district have already been
resettled.
Other IDPs will be provided with all facilities under the �Uthuru
Vasantha� program in four Provincial Secretariats in Vaviniya, Vavuniya
South, Vavuniya North and Vettikulam.
Under the direct supervision of Economic Development Minister Basil
Rajapaksa, infrastructure facilities such as highways, drinking water,
electricity and housing will be developed. Financial assistance for
these projects are expected from international donors, and in
particular, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to carry out these
projects.
A discussion was held to resettle the balance 4,500 IDPs immediately
with the participation of Resettlement Minister Milroy Fernando,
Minister Rishard Badurdeen , Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralidaran
and District secretary P.S.M. Charles at the Vaviniya District
Secretariat recently.
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