Chief Minister Karunanidhi reassured on Govt’s commitment:

Record progress in Northern resettlement

by our political correspondent

The Government has so far resettled a total of 81,301 Internally Displaced Persons and the resettlement of the remaining 186,000 will be undertaken swiftly once de-mining is complete, Socio Economic Development and Youth Empowerment Minister Arumugam Thondaman has reassured Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi during his current visit to Tamil Nadu.

Minister Thondaman has pointed out that around 58,000 people have been resettled after the visit of the delegation of MPs from Tamil Nadu and in the second phase it will be about 46,000 people. The Minister, who urged India and Tamil Nadu to further assist the process of rehabilitation and resettlement, told The Hindu that Karunanidhi was reassured about the progress of resettlement.

The Sri Lankan Government was fully committed to rehabilitating and resettling all the people in the welfare villages, he added.

“When I explained to him about the progress, he was reassured. We sought some help so that we could speed up the whole thing,” he said, adding that if any social organizations were interested in helping, they were welcome to do so. “President Mahinda Rajapaksa is keen,” he said. Thondaman rejected allegations that the Government was not genuinely interested in resettling the Tamils, saying some people were trying to get political mileage by raising such allegations.

“The genuineness of the Government is exemplified by the progress. There are shortcomings. We don’t say that we are 100 per cent perfect.” Minister Thondaman said he was looking forward to help from the Indian Government in education and housing.

The Minister pointed out that de-mining was still going on in countries such as Croatia, and that Sri Lanka had fared far better in this regard. “The Government has taken it as a duty.”

The Minister said besides rations for six months under the World Food Programme, the Government was giving seeds for cultivation and granting a subsidy for fertilizer. “The Government has provided the infrastructure and now their priority has turned towards IDP camps. So we need India’s help,” he said. The Minister said the Government could not fix a timeframe for resettlement as it depended on providing housing and completing de-mining operations. “As soon as de-mining is complete, we will be able to resettle all the people. Another team is going to come to help us with de-mining, thanks to the Indian Government.