Process to be completed by Dec 31:

Resettlement of 99 percent Displaced

Ishara MUDUGAMUWA

The government will wind up the Resettlement Ministry from next year with the resettlement process due to be completed by December 31.

The Resettlement Ministry was established in 2009 to ensure the resettlement of over 300,000 persons who were displaced by LTTE atrocities during the final stages of humanitarian operation in the Northern Province. The ministry has succeeded in resettling over 99 percent of the displaced persons in their original habitats and the rest would be resettled by the end of this year. According to Resettlement Ministry sources, only around 2,000 families are living in the Menik Farm welfare centre and all arrangements are in place to resettle them in Combavil in the Mullaitivu district by October 04.

They said that the resettlement of families in the Sampur area is in progress and this will be completed within the next two months.

Meanwhile, Resettlement Minister Gunaratne Weerakoon told the Daily News that they have been issued specific instructions by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to ensure that the resettled families are provided with all facilities, sources said.

They also said that the government has spent over Rs.1 billion for the resettlement process. Meanwhile,the Treasury recently released funds to the tune of Rs. 284 million for the Mullaitivu district and Rs 272 million to the Trincomalee district to expedite the process of resettling the remaining displaced families.

According to the sources the Ministry couldn’t resettle some people in their own lands as they do not have deeds to prove ownership to these lands, some areas are not conducive for living, some areas have not been cleared of land mines, and certion other areas have been identified as key economic development areas by the government to put up industries.