Chennai: Over 750 Sri Lankan nationals living in India as refugees have returned to their country this year with the help of monetary support from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"Upto this year, over 750 persons have returned to their native Sri Lanka through UNHCR. And there are over 100 applications which are being processed for August," a UNHCR official said.
Over 1,670 refugees who were living in special camps across Tamil Nadu returned to Lanka last year, while 2,040 persons returned in 2010 through UNHCR.
In addition to the air charge paid to them for their travel, UNHCR was also paying them a road travel allowance of 4,000 Sri Lankan Rupiah for their travel from Colombo airport to their home towns, he said.
Presently, these persons start their travel from Chennai or Tiruchirapalli airports, whichever is closer to their camp.
There are over 68,000 persons from Sri Lanka, who constitute 36.73 per cent of the total number of refugees living in India.
As on June 1 this year, there are over 100,000 persons from Tibet and 68,152 from Sri Lanka of the total 1,85,532 living in India as refugees.
PTI
