Over 15,000 displaced families reunited
L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI
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Deputy Minister of Social Welfare and head of welfare activities
for IDP’s Lionel Premasiri. |
Fifteen thousand families out of a total of 80,000 have been reunited
according to Social Services and Social Welfare Deputy Minister and head
of the IDPs Welfare Committee Lionel Premasiri.
He said that the identification of families was done by university
academics and consultants from the Higher National Institute of Social
Development under the guidance of the Ministries of Resettlement and
Social Services respectively.These families were from Jaffna, Mannar,
Trincomalee and Mullaitivu districts. A group of psychologists and
psychiatrists had also conducted counselling sessions for more than one
hundred families, he said.
The Deputy Minister also disclosed that 1,250 children aged between 1
to 18 who lost their parents due to LTTE terrorism had been identified
in IDP camps. "The Government will ensure the safety and welfare of
these children," he said. Accordingly three children's homes in Vavuniya,
Colombo and Kandy run by reputed social welfare organisations have been
identified to house them.IDP disabled persons numbering 1,110 will be
provided with 350 wheel-chairs, 460 hand sticks and 360 arm picks.The
Deputy Minister said that there was evidence to prove that the LTTE
killed all their injured - disabled cadres since there was not a single
disabled LTTEer found among the IDPs. A vocational training program will
be conducted shortly exclusively for disabled women. The first training
centre will be set up in Talawa-Anuradhapura, he said.Elders who are
over the age of 60, will be handed over to their children and relatives
after careful examination, he elaborated.
Meanwhile First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa opened a centre for orphans
in the Vavuniya IDP camps. They will be trained in computer and related
fields.
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