Jaffna IDPs home bound today
Lakshmi de Silva
The resettlement of internally displaced persons is being expedited.
All the Jaffna district IDPs will go to their original places of
residence today. The number of IDPs at Menik Farm welfare centre had
come down to 121,849 by yesterday, Rehabilitation and Resettlement
Ministry Secretary U.L.M. Haldeen told the Daily News.
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IDP Resettlement
expedited
* IDPs at Menik Farm welfare centre has
come down to 121,849
* IDPs of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and
Ampara have been completely resettled
* De-mining in the Mannar, Kilinochchi and
Mullaitivu districts expedited |
He said IDPs of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara have been
completely resettled and were back to their normal livelihoods as
planned and implemented by the Presidential Task Force on Resettlement
and Rehabilitation headed by senior presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa
MP.
De-mining in the Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts were
being expedited to resettle all IDP families by the end of January 2010
as promised.
The Government had accorded the highest priority for the resettlement
and rehabilitation process of the North, under President Mahinda
Rajapaksa’s directive, he said.
All IDPs will be allowed to travel anywhere they wish from December
1, to attend to their needs or for personal reasons without
restrictions. The welfare villages would be open villages,Haldeen noted.
One reason for the delay in resettlement was the necessity of
de-mining the Northern villages and towns the terrorists had
indiscriminately strewn with landmines and booby traps while fleeing
from the battle front.
In a recent incident, two people engaged in clearing landmines were
injured when they accidentally tripped on a booby trap, it was reported.
The total of nearly 285,000 IDPs was reduced to less than half that
number and the Presidential Task Force is taking all steps to expedite
the process.
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