Kith and kin send Rs 100 m to IDPs

Lakshmi de Silva

Family members and kinsfolk of Internally Displaced Persons in IDP welfare villages of Vavuniya had remitted nearly Rs.100 million during the past two months to 5,000 IDPs who opened new accounts with a zero balance at the Bank of Ceylon, its Deputy General Manager I. D. Weerasena told the Daily News yesterday.

He said the bank first wanted to serve the people to secure their valuables and cash and came to their help from February this year, as a free community service to help them.

Most IDPs were customers of the bank before they became IDPs and were living in areas like Mannikkulam, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi before the war erupted.

"Therefore we allowed the people in IDP welfare villages to withdraw their monies from their accounts through our mobile bank units earlier and helped them to activate their accounts as well," he said.

BoC had established five banking units at the IDP welfare villages in Vavuniya with online facilities and ATM facilities while 21,000 new account holders have also started dealings with the bank, he said.

"More than making a profit, we wanted to serve the people who needed security for their valuables and that was the cause we came into their help but we served our customers with dedication and the IDPs had deposited around Rs. 500 million during the past four to five months," he noted.