Internally Displaced Persons in North and East :

EU gives Euro 62 m for emergency rehabilitation

Hiran H. Senewiratne

*Euro 36 m for long term rehabilitation of IDPs

*EC to release funds for major infrastructure projects

The European Commission (EC) will provide Euro 62 million for emergency rehabilitation activities for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in welfare centres in the North and the East. A huge quantum of funds will also be released for development projects once rehabilitation and resettlement activities are completed, Vice Chairman Development Committee European Parliament Niranjan Deva Aditya said.

In an interview with the Daily News yesterday, Deva Aditya said the EC will provide Euro 36 million for long term rehabilitation of IDPs in the North and the East. This is apart from its 2008 budget. The EU had also released Euro 17 million for the improvement of shelter, health and hygiene sectors in IDP welfare centres, which is distributed through UN Organizations, the Red Cross and key NGOs, he said.

In December 2008, the number of IDPs grew by numbers and the EC released another Euro 2 million for emergency food aid which was distributed through the ICRC, while another Euro 5 million was released through UNHCR, Oxfam and Save the Children Fund in June this year.

He said that in the same year, Euro 36 million was released as a long term rehabilitation plan of IDPs, while another Euro 26 million was released for humanitarian activities. “Therefore, a huge quantum of development funds will be available for Sri Lanka once all IDPs are settled in safe places and the completion of de-mining activities in the North and East,” he said.

Deva Aditya who is a Member of the European Parliament, hopes to support Sri Lanka in the next three years and was looking for well structured development programs with project appraisals, feasibility studies, implementation times and timetables to be given to EU Embassy in Colombo to be transmitted to Brussels for examination.

He said all development funds will be released to Sri Lanka once the de-mining activities are completed and IDPs resettled in safe locations by integrating them into the normal society. “Once it is done, the EC will release funds for major infrastructure projects including road, power and energy and water projects in the North, the East and other districts experiencing extreme poverty,” he said.

Deva Aditya said among the IDPs, there are several hardcore LTTE cadres who need to be identified, apprehended and rehabilitated to be integrated to the normal society which is the need of the hour.

He said from the day he had been appointed as the Vice Chairman, Development Committee European Parliament he took all the possible initiatives to support Sri Lanka within his limits.

They also funded Matara -Batticaloa road which joins the Southern Expressway during the tsunami.