Govt spends Rs 73 m for PARC beneficiaries

Disna MUDALIGE

The government is spending over Rs 73 million monthly for food and other facilities of the beneficiaries in Protective Accommodation and Rehabilitation Centers (PARC) said Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Bureau (BCGR) Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe.

He said that only 4,764 beneficiaries remain in nine PARC from the 11,696 ex-combatants who were initially consented to undergo rehabilitation with BCGR. Over 55 percent had reintegrated back to the community after successfully completing the program. Brigadier Ranasinghe said that the government spent about Rs 100 million per month for food alone during the initial period of the rehabilitation program.

He noted that over 8,000 programs were conducted for those in the PARC and each and every person in them had participated in many of these programs. These programs were aimed at education, vocational training, spiritual development, counselling, cultural and social values, religious involvement etc.

He observed that Sri Lanka is the only country which integrated people who fought the 30-year war against the government back to the society.

"All PARC were provided with security, water, sanitation, food and nutrition, health and psychological support, non food relief items and facilities to make contacts with their family and friends.

"We regrouped them according to age, sex and level of rehabilitation and developed and maintained personal files for smooth functioning of the program," he said.

Brigadier Ranasinghe noted that there were 594 children in PARC and among them 273 were given formal education while 321 pursued vocational training. "Some of them were brought to leading schools in Colombo and few of them also participated in the IIFA.

We also conducted a special catch up education program to cater the needs of those who were deprived of school education during their proper age.