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75 per cent of displaced persons resettled, says Colombo

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Government has claimed that over 75 per cent of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the east, affected by the fighting between the Government forces and the LTTE since August last year, have been resettled.

Information and Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa claimed at a news conference here that the Government has resettled over 95,000 IDPs and only 37,000 more are to be resettled.

The Government and NGOs differ on the numbers displaced on account of the fighting in recent months. A section of the NGOs has been blamed for “exaggerating” the number of IDPs at over 300,000. There is also a dispute over declaration of parts of Trincomalee district as High Security Zones (HSZs) and resettlement of the displaced from these areas in other places.

The claim of the Government about resettlement of vast majority of the displaced in the east came amid stepped up efforts by the Government to convince the people within and outside the island nation that it has launched a massive rehabilitation and reconstruction programme in the “liberated east.”

Separately, the Government announced that the Trincomalee harbour destroyed by the tsunami disaster has completely rebuilt and operations will commence on July 31. The harbour was renovated at a cost of Sri Lanka Rs. 32 million with the help of UNDP. The re-commencement of harbour activities are also projected as part of the Eastern development programme focused on “re-building the recently liberated province.” Clearing of mines in the three districts of the east has been given top most priority. The Ministry of Nation Building is working on a Japanese funded Sri Lanka Rs. 360 million mine clearing project in the Districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

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