Resettling IDPs and relief assistance goes on apace

by P. Krishnaswamy

Government Agents (GAs) of Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Mannar denied reports in some sections of the media that the process of resettling IDPs and the disbursement of relief assistance, including the Rs. 20,000 shelter allowance, was unduly slow.

They told the Sunday Observer that the resettlement of IDPs and disbursement of the initial relief assistance were being handled expeditiously by all Government authorities and there was no truth whatsoever in such reports.

All Government authorities were working in coordination in an effort to accelerate the resettlement of the IDPs in accordance with the ‘Northern Spring’ program, they said.

All IDPs who were resettled in the Mullaitivu district were paid the initial relief assistance of Rs. 5,000 and the UNHCR had promptly deposited the Rs.20,000 shelter allowance in bank accounts of the resettlers.

There was a slight delay in depositing the shelter allowance for a small number of families due to an internal problem of the UNHCR. The problem is now being sorted out and the deposits will be made shortly, the GAs said.

Of the estimated 28,000 IDP families comprising 112,000 members in the district, over 7,182 families comprising 28,000 members have been already resettled in Thunukkai and Manthai East on the West side of the A9 Kandy-Jaffna highway.

All infrastructure and other facilities have been provided and normalcy prevails in the resettlement areas, the GA said.

The demining process is going on apace in the heavily mined Pudukudiyiruppu, Oddusudan and Maritimepatru AGA divisions and the remaining families will be resettled as soon as the process is completed in the near future, she said. The resettlement process in the other four Northern districts too follow a similar pattern, according to the GAs of the districts. Resettlement was taking place simultaneously with demining.