Resettlement of Sinhala families:

Minister visits Jaffna today

Chamikara Weerasinghe

Resettlement Minister Milroy Fernando will visit Jaffna today to look into problems of 150 displaced Sinhala families that have reportedly been living in IDP centres at the Doraiappa Grounds and Jaffna Railway station.

The families have been forced to live in these centres as their lands have been occupied by others from the time they returned to Jaffna to resettle in their original homes with the war against LTTE terrorism having ended. They were chased out from the North by the LTTE in 1983. They have lived in temporary shelters and camps ever since .

The families lived in Senakapura Camp in the Anuradhapura district for about seven years until they were given temporary lands by former President R. Premadasa.

On being asked why the returnees had to live in camps for so long when they were original settlers in the area, Minister Milroy Fernando said that there were no records available to them about these families as they have returned to the area without informing the Ministry.

JHU Propaganda Secretary Nishantha Warnasinghe said in that case they should also look after the families well in terms of taking care of their food, medical needs, water and sanitary facilities.

Meanwhile, Jaffna Parliamentarian and Minister Douglas Devananda is reported to have informed the JHU that it will take at least three months to get land clearance of the deeds concerned before taking any steps to resettle the families.

Resettlement Minister Fernando told the Daily News he will meet District Secretaries and other relevant officials in Jaffna to expedite action to address their problems. The matters could not have dragged on for this long, had the families informed us before going there on their own,” he added.