New beginning for resettled - Part I:
Accelerated rebuilding process in North
Ariya Rubasinghe
Only 27, 400 IDPs remain to be resettled and out of which 19,000 are from the Pudukudiiruppu and Pudumathalan areas. They are unable to be resettled yet since the area is heavily congested with landmines and demining operations in the area are underway.
The Security Forces rescued around 295,000 people from the terrorist hold and of which over 265,000 people have been resettled in their original habitats and have been provided with financial assistance, home appliances and dry rations required for six months. Originally, the people who were rescued were housed in 47 camps including the Lakshman Kadirgamar, Ananda Coomaraswamy and Arunachalam Transititional resettlement villages and with successful resettlement of people in their original habitats, which included resettlement of 7,185 families amounting to 19,604 persons in Kilinochchi, 7,775 families consisting of 19,257 persons in Mullaitivu, 18,948 families consisting 59,830 persons in Jaffna, 3,425 families consisting 11,000 persons and the rest in Mannar district and other places, the remaining number of 27,400 people have now been moved to the five main welfare centres while closing down all other camps. In these camps too most of the blocks now remain empty.
One of the newly constructed buildings
Educating of IDP children
Children in the welfare centres who were without education for several years when they were under the jurisdiction of terrorists are now being given with proper education. When a media team jointly organized by the Information Department, the Media Centre for National Development and Mass Media and Information Ministry visited the Arunachalam Transitional Resettlement Village, they were told by the Principal of the School in the Welfare Centre K A Gnaneswaran, himself an IDP from Udayakattu, in Pudukudiiruppu, that there were eight schools in the welfare centre with 2,462 children at the beginning and following most of the people and children leaving the welfare centre for resettlement in their original habitats, the remaining children are now brought under one school and the school in the welfare centre has classes from Grade One to Advanced level.
He said the school now has 362 students with 13 teachers of which three teachers including him were IDPs. The rest are outside teachers. He said the furniture and other facilities for the school are provided by the Government and the Government also pays their salaries. He further said that the schools were established by the Government within one month of establishing the welfare centres last year and NGOs like UNICEF also provide material and things required for the school.
Another teacher, also an IDP, named Sumithra said that she was from Kilinochchi and left her village in 2008 when the LTTE was carrying out forcible recruitment. She said she and her family stayed with some of their relations in Mannar and after the welfare centre was established in Mankulam, they came and settled down in it. She is happy now and devotes her time to educate the children. She said that she hopes to return to her village when conditions return to normal and when demining is completed in her habitat area.
Freedom of movement
Camp Management Army Units have appointed several youth as GS personnel to assist IDPs in the maximum possible manner. They are similar to Grama Niladharis and will help look after the welfare of the IDPs and advise the Camp Managements about shortcomings and problems.
The Army Engineering Unit is building a 1 km dam for storage of rainwater. This tank named as Vairavi Sinnakulam would provide irrigation facilities for 80 acres of paddy fields and 35 acres of land for cultivation of other crops.
Vanni Region Commander Major General Kamal Gunaratne said at the Vanni Region Army Headquarters that he is indeed happy to mention that since May 19, 2009 until now, no terrorist act has taken place in Sri Lanka and no one has died due to terrorism. He said the honour for this situation should not only be accorded to the Security Forces but also to the people of this country and the Government including President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Explaining further, the Major General said that not only the people of the Vanni suffered and were oppressed by the LTTE terrorists and were living in fear and anxiety but people in the other parts of the country faced the same fate.
Family members refrained from travelling together and father used to go to work in a bus, mother by a train and children by school vans to avoid the menace of becoming victimized by bus bombs, sudden bomb blasts, train bombs and other forms of terrorism. The peaceful environment has not only brought peace of mind and confidence to the people of the Vanni but for the country as a whole. The world’s ruthless terrorist organization has been completely wiped out.
LTTE cadres
The Major General pointed out that about 12,000 LTTE cadres have been rehabilitated and about 4,000 of them have gone back to their normal civilian life.
Commenting on the rescue operations carried out Major General Kamal Gunaratne said over 295,000 came into the Government controlled areas within a limited period. The Army accepted them and separated them from the dangerous people, provided them food and shelter, helped them with kindness and compassion and created a peaceful environment for them to live safely. They were brought to Omanthai, registered and kept in Transitional Villages providing all essential and immediate facilities they required, not treating them as a people who had taken up arms against the Security Forces, but as innocent people who were affected by circumstantial cruelties. Identified cadres were separated and rehabilitated.
Clarifying about the demining operations, he said that demining operations are being carried out in a humanitarian manner to ensure that no danger could be caused to anyone through mines.
Over 1,000 Engineering Unit soldiers, over 100 machines bought by the Government, sniffer dogs and help from some foreign organizations too are engaged in the demining operation and IDPs are settled in the demined areas only after a certificate of safety for the area is obtained from the UN organization issuing certificates. He said the dark days are over now and we should look as to how we could help each and everyone commit themselves to build this country for a bright and prosperous future for everyone. Our aspiration is to give back everyone the life they lost during the last three decades.
The Major General said that tanks are being built, electricity is being supplied everywhere, roads, schools, houses constructed and families provided to children to pursue their studies.
Media team
Personnel are paid a monthly salary by the government and each camp has several GS personnel. One such GS interviewed by the media team informed that he was from Aruchchilan, a village in the Pudukudiiruppu area and he came to the government controlled side following forcible abduction of his elder brother by the LTTE.
He said he was very happy about the facilities being provided for IDPs by the government compared to the hardship and anxiety they endured under the LTTE.
IDPs in welfare centres are given passes to go out at any time and return even after three months. Many IDPs leave welfare centres daily for work in other places despite being provided with all requirements including dry rations.
Some of the IDPs even sell part of their rations in Vavuniya Town.
To be continued
Lake House Copyright © 2010 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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