Tamil Nadu   

Arrival of refugees at Dhanushkodi goes up

Staff Reporter

Spurt in exodus after Sri Lankan Army wrests Vaharai from LTTE

RAMANATHAPURAM: Arrival of refugees from Sri Lanka has again increased in the last few days.

Those who have taken shelter in the Mandapam camp say recent fighting between the Sri Lankan Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealem over Vaharai is one of the reasons for their fleeing the island nation.

On Saturday, 53 refugees, including 14 children and 14 women, arrived at Dhanushkodi, taking the number of those who arrived since January 2006 to 17,138. They belong to 5,156 families, mostly from Trincomalee, Mannar, Jaffna and Vavuniya.

In a dilemma

According to the refugees, thousands of people have been stranded in and around Vaharai, after the Army wrested it from the LTTE, and in many parts of Batticalao district. "Hundreds of displaced people ... are in a dilemma whether to go to the government-controlled areas or to leave for India. People, especially women and children, are finding the going tough as food and milk are in short supply," says Santharupan, 26, of Vavuniya.

The refugees say illegal ferry operators of Talaimannar are charging between Rs.5,000 to Rs.10,000. If refugees from Mannar want to go to Dhanushkodi, they charge Rs.5,000 per person. The fee for other refugees is between Rs.7,000 to Rs.10,000. Besides, they have to spend a considerable sum on internal transport.

"No money"

"Most of the Tamils in the troubled areas want to take refuge in India. But a majority of the refugees don't have enough money to pay for the ferry," says another refugee from Vavuniya.

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