THE RESETTLEMENT of IDPs is being expedited and all IDPs of the Jaffna district will return to their original places of residence today. The number of IDPs at Menik Farm relief village had come down to 121,849 by yesterday, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Ministry Secretary U. L. M. Haldeen told the Daily News yesterday.
He said all IDPs of the three districts of the Eastern Province; Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampara have been resettled. De-mining in the Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts is being expedited to resettle all IDP families by the end of January next year as promised. The Government had accorded the highest priority for the resettlement and rehabilitation process of the North under a directive issued by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he also said.
All IDPs were allowed to travel anywhere they wished to from December 1,to attend to their needs or for personal reasons without restrictions. The welfare villages are now open villages. Daily 15,000 people go out on their private visits and come back in the evening and no restriction on their movements, he noted.
Nearly 285,000 IDPs have reduced to less than half of that number. (Courtesy: Daily News)
