TNA urged the govt to resettle the IDPs within its stipulated pd of 180 days. The govt had assured that this task would be substantially accomplished!

Displaced families: Govt. makes new offer

By Kelum Bandara and Gihan de Chickera


The government has decided to release displaced families to relatives willing to accommodate them in their places of residence, Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Rishad Bathiudeen said yesterday.

The Minister said Grama Seva Niladharis, Divisional Secretaries and the Police must first confirm the identities of persons willing to get their family members released from welfare villages and camps. He said the IDPs would be released only if they had a mutual agreement with their relatives to live with them.

“We can release them only if there is a mutual agreement between them and their relatives. The military will also screen persons asking for the release of their relatives from the camps,” he said.

TNA leader R. Sampanthan also told Daily Mirror that his party brought up this matter at the meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday, and accordingly relatives could apply if they wished to accommodate their family members.

Mr. Sampanthan said that his party urged the government to resettle the IDPs within its stipulated period of 180 days. The government had assured that this task would be substantially accomplished.

“We wanted the government to minimize the difficulties of the IDPs. The government assured that de-mining work will be accelerated to enable the early resettlement of IDPs,” he said.

He said that the government responded positively to the TNA’s request to allow them to visit the welfare camps and villages.

“The President said that the government would get back to the TNA in this regard,” Mr. Sampanthan said.

Meanwhile, the Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Ministry presented a supplementary estimate seeking Rs.350 million to provide welfare facilities to the displaced civilians now sheltered in camps in villages in Vavuniya, Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee. This money is sought to provide basic needs of the IDPs such as food, drinking water and sanitation. There are 288,938 IDPs displaced in the fight against terrorism.

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