Another 9,000 IDPs to be resettled today

Lakshmi DE SILVA

Another batch of nearly 9,000 Internally Displaced Persons now living in the welfare villages of Vavunia will be resettled in their own villages in the North and East today, senior official sources told the Daily News yesterday.

Buses to take the IDPs back to their villages have been arranged by the Rehabilitation and Disaster Relief Ministry with lunch and dinner provided by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

These IDPs will be resettled in Jaffna District in the North and Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee Districts in the East.

The District Secretaries have been directed to assist in their smooth return to normalcy and their livelihoods.

For instance, farmer families would be provided with free seed material and fertilizer while fisher families will be given fishing tackle free of charge, they said.

Each family of IDPs will be given dry rations provided by the World Food Program sufficient for six months while they will also be provided with kitchen utensils and other material like textiles to re-start their normal lives. They will also be given Rs.25,000 to repair their houses. The infrastructure facilities have been provided in the villages while de-mining goes on and security measures are put in place in the areas where they will be resettled, sources also said.

Official sources in Vavunia said the Presidential Task Force was taking steps to ensure that more IDPs were resettled in their own villages or towns as soon as possible and the de-mining process was continuing to ensure the safety of the IDPs when they come back to their villages.