Displaced children will return to ancestral villages

Hidogama group corr.

Children in welfare villages will be re-settled in their ancestral villages along with their parents as soon as demining operations are completed, said Nation Building Minister S. M. Chandrasena at a ceremony to mark Universal Children’s Day held at the Vavuniya Sumathipura welfare village recently.

Minister Chandrasena who said that it was a privilege to participate in a ceremony to mark Universal Children’s Day among displaced children said they should understand that they were in such a predicament due to the activities of barbaric LTTE terrorists.

The Minister said, on the directions of the President, demining operations have been expedited to enable displaced persons in welfare camps to go back to their original homes without delay so that they could restart their farming and other vocations.

Sumathipura village accommodated 5,882 displaced persons belonging to 1,821 families from Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mullaitivu and of them 2,484 are children. Schools and pre-schools are being conducted for the benefit of these children on the instructions of Presidential Senior Advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP.

They were also provided with nutritious meals containing red raw rice and vegetables. Officers of the Rural Social Development Institute (RSDI) have been deployed to look after the welfare of the displaced in the welfare village.

A highlight at this ceremony was an ice cream treat and a distribution of sports gear among all 2,484 children in the village.

RSDI Executive Director Nimal Padmasiri, Vavuniya SLFP Chief Organiser Premaratne Sumathipala, Tissa Dias of Save the Children and other officials participated.