We saved Easterners

*  Govt saved civilians from jaws of Tigers

*  Restoration of democracy after decades

*  Resettlement in their own homesteads

The proven victory of curbing terrorism:

Resettled 182,193 displaced people in B'caloa and Trinco by end August

The major highlights of all development stories published in the newspapers last week, one was significant. The Department of Census and Statistics reported the high yield in the harvests of the Eastern Province and the substantial contribution it makes to agriculture. The growth rate in the agricultural sector was a result of the increased paddy harvest in Jaffna, Ampara and Batticaloa districts.

Harvest in Batticaloa has increased by 46.8%, in Ampara by 25% and in Jaffna by 56% in the maha season. It was noted by the Department that peaceful environment in the East contributed to the growth in the agriculture sector.

Yet this was not the case just two years ago in the Eastern Province.

According to statistics available with the Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development, 60,272 people were displaced in the Batticaloa district while 3,850 in Trincomalee and in Ampara it was 1,889 as of September 23, 2006. This was the initial periods of the humanitarian operation to liberate the Eastern province. As the Sri Lanka Army progressed towards freeing Mavil Aru and then Vakarai areas isolating Tigers in Thoppigala and its surroundings, the Sri Lanka Police Special Task Force started targeting the Tigers in the jungles of Ampara - specially the Kanjikudichcharu. No one exactly knew how many people were living and on what were they living?

As troops advanced towards Vakarai, the closer they were to the area the more people were escaping from the ruthless Tiger clutches. As of October 16, 2006 statistics, Batticaloa welfare camps became the home for 15,451 families escaped from uncleared areas and in Trincomalee there were 1470 families. By November the number increased to 19,573 in the Batticaloa district. Initially it was the Army who had to provide welfare and protection to these people who came just with their meager earnings. Some had nothing but the clothes they were wearing. A huge task was lying before the Government - feeding and protecting the innocent internally displaced civilians.

Housing scheme for the returnees

Happy and relaxed school girls returning home.

Returning home

The Government in collaboration with the International Organisations, in particular, the United Nations Agencies such as UNHCR, UNDP, WFP, WHO, UNICEF etc, commenced a range of development and welfare programs to address the needs of these unfortunate people. Simultaneously, the Government of Sri Lanka single-handedly implemented a number of programs spending its own funds to provide the basic facilities to the terror-affected communities.The Government together with UN agencies and many International and national Non Governmental Organisations is continuing providing basic needs, in particular dry rations for the IDPs spending huge amounts of money.

Way forward

The Ministry of Nation Building alone has spent 1900 million rupees for the welfare of the IDPs in 2007. The Government continues to spend a huge amounts of money to maintain a large number of IDP families who are in the Welfare centres and also with their friends and relatives.

"We have only 17 welfare camps at the moment in two DS divisions, namely Eravurpattu and Koralaipattu. That is, 862 families in Eravurpattu and 1756 families in Koralaipattu," Batticaloa District Secretary, Rupawathi Kediswaran told the Sunday Observer explaining the present situation. The present GA was then AGA responsible for resettlement of Tsunami-affected families in the Batticaloa district. Even at this moment, the resettlement of these people is continuing. "As de-mining an area is a lengthy process, the resettlement slows down but the progress we have achieved so far is very encouraging," Kediswaran said.

By the time the entire Eastern Theatre was liberated by our valiant soldiers from marauding Tigers - starting from the Mavil Aru operation till Thoppigala liberation - a total of more than 160,000 people were under the safe wings of the Government staying in the welfare camps hoping to return to their homes and lands.At the moment 15,612 refugees are in the Batticaloa district (including people from Southern Trincomalee) and 4647 people in the Trincomalee district welfare camps, according to the latest statistics available with the Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services reveals.

The Challenge

Catering to the day-to-day needs of over 160,000 people - victims of LTTE terrorism, which includes adults as well as children - schoolchildren to toddlers, infants and newly born - is a challenge that cannot be explained in simple terms. Nutrition, water, healthcare, sanitation all come in line with equal priority.

"Some people came with little, little things belonging to them but basically the Government had to provide the essentials like clothing and Kitchen utensils, with the support of line ministries, INGOs and many well-wishers," Rupawathi Kediswaran added. "Many people came from the Vakarai area while there were some from Sampoor and Muttur in the Trincomalee district," she explained.

Initially these people were sheltered in Schools but as the schools needed to start functioning new places had to be found. "All the relevant Government agencies joined together to look after these people," Kediswaran said further explaining the mechanism.The Office of the Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services conducted medical clinics in addition to the medical camps conducted by the Army. The Provincial Council took care of the sanitary facilities of these camps. The Ceylon Electricity Board assisted in providing electricity.

The Water Supply and Drainage Board took the responsibility of providing drinking water to these people in addition to the support extended by some INGOs to provide drinking water. Once in every two weeks dry rations are provided to these people, which include rice, flour, oil, dhal, sugar and non food items like soap and other essential items.

Reawakening

The Ministry of Nation Building has been mandated to implement the Eastern Revival Program. Projects including the 'Gama Neguma' among others, through a mechanism for the proper resource, allocation and coordination to ensure maximum benefit for the people of the East.

The Ministry of Nation Building has allocated a sum of 1,300 million rupees towards the infrastructure development, human resource development, livelihood development and other sectoral developments in the three districts - Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee. Population density, territorial extent, prevalence of poverty and status of under development is considered in this process.

The Eastern Revival is also connected to the national programs and projects including mega infrastructure projects which are aimed mainly at improving coordination with other regions. These projects are expected to create new opportunities for investments with the expansion of employment opportunities in the regions, particularly promotion of private sector investments.The main component of the Eastern Revival includes linking and supportive infrastructural projects which are aimed at improving mobility and accessibility at regional level. These projects will also improve the capacity of the regions to link with the mainstream of development.

The specific area of development activities has a catalytic role in boosting commercial activities in these three districts.

Livelihood development is the other component of the development program aimed at expanding livelihood opportunities and improving the living conditions of households at grass roots levels.

Overall development focuses on upgrading road facilities (through Maga Neguma), providing electricity, drinking water, irrigation and livelihood improvement. All these activities are coordinated and carried out under the umbrella of 'Gama Neguma' (Village uplift) with the involvement of all stakeholders within the Eastern Region and through the machinery of Government Agencies, Provincial Institutions and statutory bodies.

As a result of all these endless efforts to make others' lives brighter, only 10,494 people are to be resettled in the Batticaloa district, GA Batticaloa Kediswaran said. In addition 1493 families are in Batticaloa district from Trincomalee district. And in the Trincomalee district 4,647 people are to be resettled, statistics from the Ministry of Resettlement reveals.

"In the Batticaloa district 95% of the de-mining is completed," the Advisor to the Ministry of Nation Building M.S. Jayasinghe said. Jayasinghe is in charge of coordinating and overseeing the entire de-mining progress of the newly liberated areas. Hence, the resettlement can progress, achieving its scheduled targets.

Livestock development programs are carried out under UNDP assisted livelihood development activities. A specific project aiming only the Eastern Province's development is the North East Coastal Community Development project. In addition, North East Community Restoration and Development (NECORD) project and several Japanese and French Governments aid projects are carried out in the East.

A major irrigation scheme is under-way in Rugama Wewa located along the A5 road where Puluganawa wewa irrigation project is in progress. Road development projects are progressing as Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank schemes in addition to the ADB projects for water supply and drainage systems and fishery harbour developments.

Proved success

The success of the Eastern Development within a short span of time, amidst all the local and international chaotic debates and comments, is indeed proof of the success of the ideology, the strategy and implementation.Coordinating and extracting the best out of our own resources our own administrative system which succeeded in providing maximum benefits to the people in the Eastern Province from the humanitarian operations which were carried out in the region.