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Only 1965 IDPs remain to be resettled in Settikulam

February 2, 2012, 9:48 pm
By Pabodha Hettige
Only 1,965 war displaced families remain in the currently functioning Kadirgamar and Ananda Coomaraswamy relief villages in Settikulam in the Northern peninsula had to be resettled, Minister of Resettlement, Gunaratne Weerakoon said yesterday (02).
"The ministry is planning to resettle 200 more families in a land area of 600 acres in Kombavil, close to Pudukudirippu on February 07," he said. Two hundred houses with rooms of 120 square feet each and sanitation facilities along with wells to obtain drinking water had been constructed with the assistance of the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau.
A large number of remaining IDP’s could be resettled if at least 1000 more houses could be constructed during the next six months, the minister said. Rs. 172 million had been approved for the ministry in this regards.
For those who would be resettled the ministry would give food rations worth Rs. 3,500 along with certain tools to re-establish livelihoods.
According to the minister a total of 216,412 internally displaced families from Northern and Eastern provinces had been resettled in semi- permanent dwellings and they had been provided with roofing sheets, cement along with Rs. 25,000 to renovate their houses. It was a temporary solution provided by the ministry to free the IDP’s from life in the relief villages, he said.
Weerakoon also said that the 1,272 displaced Sampur families due to the construction of the coal power plant would also be relocated in the areas in the vicinity.
"Fifty six houses are under construction for the families who had expressed their willingness to be resettled," he said.
Areas like Tangapuram had been proposed for further resettlement. Rs. 387 million had been allocated for the resettlement of Sampur IDP’s.
"All IDP’s would be resettled with their consent and if they could prove the ownership to what they claim to be their ancestral lands, the land ministry had implemented a scheme to compensate them," Weerakoon said.
The minister also said that discussions are underway with the Indian government to construct 5,000 houses in the Eastern province.