Colombo: Nearly 1.45 lakh out of the 2.88 lakh Tamils displaced during the ethnic conflict in northern and eastern Sri Lanka have been resettled, the government has said.
About half of the displaced have been sent back home from welfare centres in Vavuniya, that had sheltered over 2.6 lakh people, Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe said yesterday.
"It is a significant improvement from last week when the figure of the total number of displaced was over 153,000," the minister said.
The IDPs are resettled only after ensuring that demining is completed and infrastructure and security established, he said, adding that around 24 flailing machines are being used in the demining operations.
"Around 9,860 Internally Displaced Persons have been resettled in their native places in last one week bringing the number of to be settled to 143,161 from 153,021 as a result of the crash resettlement program implemented by the government," he said.
At present around 132,748 IDPs in Vavuniya, 3,373 IDPs in Jaffna, 2,970 IDPs in Trincomalee and 970 IDPs in Mannar are still to be resettled, a report said.
It added that there were also around 3,100 IDPs receiving treatment in several hospitals.
The minister said the government is making all efforts to upgrade the living standards of the IDPs by providing them with livelihoods and vocational training.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, November 14, 2009, 15:51