Northern resettlement begins
First batch of 125 families to be resettled tomorrow:
Wijitha Nakkawita
Resettlement of people displaced in the North has begun in the Mannar
district at the Musali Divisional Secretariat area and the first batch
of villagers will come back to their original properties.
* Delay
of resettlement due to de-mining
* Tents for families until
original houses are repaired
* Tools for those engaged in
carpentry, masonry or motor mechanism
* Seed material and
agricultural implements for those who had cultivated paddy
or other crops |
The first batch of 125 families would be resettled tomorrow (April
30, 2009). The Government has provided funds for the people coming back
to their villages to repair and renovate some of the homes that were
damaged, Nation Building Ministry Secretary W.K.Kumarasiri told the
Daily News yesterday.
The delay of resettlement of displaced families was due to de-mining,
a process that takes time and was costly and was done with assistance
from a number of countries including India, Australia and Sweden that
had provided the expertize and the funds.
Mannar district liberated from the LTTE some months back, was being
cleared of landmines and was the first region of the north where
civilians were being resettled. De-mining was being done in the other
districts of the north and progressively all displaced civilians would
be resettled in their original villages or towns, he said.
The first batch of families who were being resettled would be
provided with tents to live in until their original houses were repaired
or made fit for habitation but needs like cooking utensil and kitchen
kits were also provided for all families with sanitation facilities also
provided in the assistance kits.
In addition to the assistance to repair or rebuild their original
homes civil administration had also been set up with the Grama Nildharis
already appointed and police stations also set up in that area of the
district. The same pattern of resettlement of people in the Eastern
Province was being followed in the Northern Province, he noted.
In addition to the physical resettlement of the displaced people of
the North, the Disaster Relief and Resettlement Ministry was providing
the people with means of livelihood development like providing tools for
those engaged in carpentry, masonry or motor mechanism or seed material
and agricultural implements for those who had cultivated paddy or other
crops, Disaster Relief and Resettlement Ministry sources said.
Demining was going in 15 Divisional Secretariat areas and mines in
six divisions had already been cleared.
The ground work for resettlement had begun even when the war was
going on along with de-mining, like registration of the names of
families that needed to be resettled, providing them with relief and
food till they were able to find their own incomes.
The families in Musali who are coming back to their original places
of residence are to live in tents provided to them until their homes
were repaired and were fit for habitation the Ministry Secretary said.
The massive historic irrigation scheme Yodha Weva is also to be
rehabilitated at a cost of Rs.380.000,000 provided by the World Bank and
the roads from Medawachchiya to Mannar would also be developed to allow
the people to bring their agricultural produce to the towns for sale
after the irrigation scheme was rehabilitated and cultivation in this
region known as the rice bowl of the north was restarted, Nation
Building and State Infrastructure Development Ministry Senior Advisor
M.S. Jayasinghe said. |