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by Rashomi Silva

The city is wrecked and its inhabitants are in tears. Their weather beaten faces marked strongly with worry lines, tell a tale of unbearable suffering. Yet they see a ray of hope amid their suffering. They have begun to see the brighter side of life. This is the reality of the lives of the people of the once war torn North and East of this county.

The war has stopped and the parties concerned are hard at work in making the peace permanent. There is yet another aspect that demands equal or may be greater attention, that is the task of rehabilitating the war ravaged North and East.

The war which had engulfed so many young lives forced the majority of the North-East population to flee their homes and villages.

The restoration of the civil administration in 1996 in certain parts of the Jaffna district, signing of the MoU last year February, the opening of the A-9 road and the ongoing peace process had caused the voluntary migration of most of the displaced to their original abodes. This voluntary resettlement has made the rehabilitation process all the more important and urgent.

"We thought we were to suffer in silence eternally. At the height of the war we had to abandon all our possessions and we ran for our lives. We suffered tremendously at refugee camps. Children dropped out of schools. And the young school drop out were forcibly taken to the battlefield. The war seemed to be dragging on forever. We were at the depths of despair, but we see a light at the end of the tunnel, the ongoing peace process offers us hopes." The united voice of the sufferers of the decades long ethnic conflict.

"When we came back to our home towns, all we had left was desolated dwellings and shattered temples, and are left without a way to earn our living".

The Government understood the suffering and prudently took steps to make amends. Apart from the ministry to deal with the rehabilitation and the resettlement of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed a special commission under an eminent civil servant and the Secretary to the Prime Minister Bradman Weerakoon to carry out an intensive Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (triple R programme).

The special commission operates from the Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) says P. Madugoda, a senior SCOPP official for Humanitarian and Rehabilitation work. "We have designed a total of 477 projects costing around 9,000 million rupees. They are designed to prepare a conducive environment for the people to re-start their normal lives in the war affected areas. In project execution the priority will be given to the most affected areas and to the most populated areas.

"Several donor countries which participated in the Oslo Donor meeting have pledged aid of over 70 million U.S. dollars. Some countries have already sent money to the World Bank, who work as the trustee. The projects are designed to accommodate programmes ranging from rural development projects to rehabilitation and resettlement of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and are executed by the Divisional Secretariats.

The project duration varies from six months to one year, the official said. Relating the current situation in most parts of the North, he said that the "Majority of the population (in North and East) was forced to flee from their permeant habitats with the outbreak of war in mid 80s. During the war, basic facilities such as houses, toilets, drinking water wells and community infrastructure were either damaged or destroyed completely.

The resettled persons are facing problems without these basic facilities. At least a few of the families should be provided for the resettlers to lead a good life".

According to the SCOPP office the main objective of these rehabilitation projects is to accelerate the return of normalcy to the provinces. And uplifting the living standards of the residents by improving basic human needs such as housing, health, education and other basic infrastructure facilities such as roads, electricity and drinking water.

The priorities in rehabilitation depend on the needs of the people. For example, in Kilinochchi, one of the worst affected districts and an area with a high percentage of school dropouts, a large sum of the allocated fund is used for the upliftment of the educational sector. 46 schools were selected for the rehabilitation and reconstruction costing nearly 400 million rupees. In addition it is also proposed to establish a Technical College to provide vocational training to the youth and school dropouts.

Nearly one fourth of the budget of the rehabilitation of the North and East is allotted for Kilinochchi, signifying how badly the area was damaged by the war. In most of the North, shattered buildings, and other debris deriving from the use of modern weapons have made those places unhealthy habitats. The programmes have placed an equal emphasis on removing the debris and making the places suitable for living and resettlement again.

In relatively less damaged areas like Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts, the programme aim at improving irrigation sector, developing community infrastructure, income generation and community development.

Arrangements are made to provide loan facilities to start self employment projects for needy families.In addition, giving vocational training and home industry training to the residents form an integral part of the project. In home industry training and in providing provisions priority is attached to widows and female-headed families.

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