Displaced returning to Muttur

Chamikara Weerasinghe

COLOMBO: People displaced in Muttur and Serunuwara are returning to their villages.

The progress of resettling is slow but steady, the Ministry of Nation Building Development told the Daily News.

The ministry’s Development Assistant for Batticaloa and Trincomalee, M.S.M. Zuhair said the people were moving to their villages from their temporary shelters in Kantale and Mannar. Seruwila police said the people who had run away after LTTE threats from Selvanagar and Thoppur were returning to their homes leaving their temporary shelters of refuge at Kawantissapura.

Inquired about the situation of Seruwila and Muttur with regard to displaced civilians, Sunil Aluthgamage of North and East Sinhala Organsiation said: “People in protection camps at Mahindapura have volunteered to go back to their homes in Muttur and Seruwila.”

“Most of them are Muslims. They are firm in their decision to return to back to their villages,” he said.

“However, some families have settled in other areas out of fear for the LTTE,” he explained.

Zuhair said the Ministry has been able to continue with its development work even amid the present difficult circumstances.

The Ministry has allocated Rs. 150 million for developing the North - East for this year, he said.