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The largest figure todate:
Over 41,000 IDPs resettled
Lakshmi DE SILVA in Mannar
The resettlement of the largest number of Internally Displaced
Persons of the North took place yesterday, with 41,685 persons resettled
in Vavuniya, Mannar, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi, resettled in 108 Grama
Niladhari Divisions of these districts.
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Some of the IDPs waiting to board their buses back to their
villages. Picture by Bandula Seneviratne |
Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP said though Sri Lanka
is a small country, we have been able to resettle a large number of IDPs
in a short time though some countries were still not able to resettle
displaced persons for years. “For instance some victims of the storm
Katrina are still living in containers but we will resettle all our IDPs
very soon.
Up to now nearly 100,000 or almost half of the total number had been
resettled,” MP Rajapaksa said. He said more importantly the entire North
was now being developed at a rapid pace and infrastructure development
and rehabilitation of all public utilities were being done.
“Those of you who are fortunate to comeback to your hometowns or
villages will be provided all assistance to restart your lives and
livelihood now without fear,” he said. “One of the major public works of
the rehabilitation of the North was the improvements made to the Yodha
Wewa, the largest irrigation reservoir with the bund raised by two feet
and sluice gates renovated, the Irrigation Engineer informed me.
Accordingly 13,411 acres of paddy land will be cultivated under the
Yodha Wewa irrigation waters in November and a further 11,026 acres of
paddy will be cultivated in lands lying fallow for over 20 years.
Landmines in these lands have been cleared and land preparation has been
completed,” he said. The Armed Forces, the police, the Governor of the
North, District and Divisional Secretaries, UNHCR, WFP, IOM and all
other officials had cooperated to resettle you and they deserve a
special word of thanks”, MP Rajapaksa said.
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