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| Sunday, 15 September 2002 |
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Rs. 100 m for rehabilitation of North-East refugees by DON ASOKA WIJEWARDENA In a bid to help improve the living conditions of approximately 100,000 internally displaced persons in the North and East, the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees has decided to allocate a sum of Rs. 100 million to the Government Agents of the five districts in the North to assist refugees returning to their original places, Minister Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena told the "Sunday Observer". The Minister explained that since the signing of the MoU between the Government and the LTTE, about 90,000 displaced families who were living in temporary camps had already gone back to their original places and a relief package to assist them would be provided. Dr. Jayawardena said that of the sum of Rs. 100 million, Rs. 20 million had already been allocated to the respective GAs in Mannar, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Jaffna and Vavuniya districts for poverty alleviation among the war-stricken people and, the balance sum of Rs. 80 million, would be released shortly. Each displaced family would receive Rs. 15,000 and the Ministry was seeking private sector donors to provide humanitarian assistance and relief to a large number of persons affected. "The intention of the government is to ensure that the problem is solved without undue delay and we have issued instructions for the provision of medical facilities for refugees," said the minister. Additional Secretary to the Ministry, K. Kumaradasan, said that on the initiative of Minister Jayawardena, the Eropean Union had agreed to provide financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 198 million for the rehabilitation of 132 schools which had been occupied by the security forces in the North and East, which had now been vacated. The Ministry would seek the assistance of about 70,000 students for rehabilitation work of schools on a shramadana basis as displaced students were eager to resume schooling to continue their education. Majority of parents were not keen to send their children to schools unless good educational facilities were provided. Rehabilitation of schools would at least take 6 to 18 months since the programme includes construction of new buildings, provision of science laboratories, furniture, equipment, competent teachers and sanitation facilitie etc. Meanwhile, the Minister of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, has been invited by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva to deliver a speech on "Sustainable Voluntary Resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons" in Geneva on September 23. |
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