SLA obstructs resettlement in Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2010, 05:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has not permitted the families uprooted from Vadamaraadchi brought Thursday morning from Raamaavil and Kudaththanai camps in Thenmaraadchi to be resettled in their houses. SLA has instructed the families to stay in temporary interim camps in Vadamaraadchi East until their houses are renovated, Jaffna District Secretariat sources said. The families, now lodged in government buildings under the control of SLA, complain that they are unable to engage in fishing which is their main livelihood.

Many areas in Vadamaraadchi East had not been caught in the war and people uprooted when war broke had left their undamaged houses and properties.

The roofs of their houses and the properties left behind had been plundered by SLA, uprooted family members who visited their properties said.

The uprooted families are now lodged in Chempianpattu Government Tamil Mixed School, Uduththu'rai Makaaa Viththiyaalayam, Maruthangkea'ni Hindu Makaa Viththiyaalayam and Thaazhaiyadi government hospital which had been under the control of Liberation Tigers before the war.

The uprooted families who were promised of resettlement in their own houses after spending years in SLA controlled camps fear that they may be held permanently in the interim camps of the SLA.