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Northern Resettlement Begins; First Batch of 125 Families to be Resettled Tomorrow

RESETTLEMENT of people displaced in the North has begun in the Mannar district at the Musali Divisional Secretariat area and the first batch of villagers will come back to their original properties.

* Delay of resettlement due to de-mining
* Tents for families until original houses are repaired
* Tools for those engaged in carpentry, masonry or motor mechanism
* Seed material and agricultural implements for those who had cultivated paddy or other crops
 
The first batch of 125 families would be resettled tomorrow (April 30, 2009). The Government has provided funds for the people coming back to their villages to repair and renovate some of the homes that were damaged, Nation Building Ministry Secretary W.K.Kumarasiri told the Daily News yesterday.

The delay of resettlement of displaced families was due to de-mining, a process that takes time and was costly and was done with assistance from a number of countries including India, Australia and Sweden that had provided the expertize and the funds.

Mannar district liberated from the LTTE some months back, was being cleared of landmines and was the first region of the north where civilians were being resettled. De-mining was being done in the other districts of the north and progressively all displaced civilians would be resettled in their original villages or towns, he said.

The first batch of families who were being resettled would be provided with tents to live in until their original houses were repaired or made fit for habitation but needs like cooking utensil and kitchen kits were also provided for all families with sanitation facilities also provided in the assistance kits.

In addition to the assistance to repair or rebuild their original homes civil administration had also been set up with the Grama Nildharis already appointed and police stations also set up in that area of the district. The same pattern of resettlement of people in the Eastern Province was being followed in the Northern Province, he noted.

In addition to the physical resettlement of the displaced people of the North, the Disaster Relief and Resettlement Ministry was providing the people with means of livelihood development like providing tools for those engaged in carpentry, masonry or motor mechanism or seed material and agricultural implements for those who had cultivated paddy or other crops, Disaster Relief and Resettlement Ministry sources said.

Demining was going in 15 Divisional Secretariat areas and mines in six divisions had already been cleared.

The ground work for resettlement had begun even when the war was going on along with de-mining, like registration of the names of families that needed to be resettled, providing them with relief and food till they were able to find their own incomes.

The families in Musali who are coming back to their original places of residence are to live in tents provided to them until their homes were repaired and were fit for habitation the Ministry Secretary said.

The massive historic irrigation scheme Yodha Weva is also to be rehabilitated at a cost of Rs.380.000,000 provided by the World Bank and the roads from Medawachchiya to Mannar would also be developed to allow the people to bring their agricultural produce to the towns for sale after the irrigation scheme was rehabilitated and cultivation in this region known as the rice bowl of the north was restarted, Nation Building and State Infrastructure Development Ministry Senior Advisor M.S. Jayasinghe said. (Courtesy : Daily News)