Valikamam North displaced to be re-settled

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 January 2007, 20:45 GMT]
Consequeny to the recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Sri lanka, civilians displaced from their residences in High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikamam North would be permitted to return their residences based on certain court- imposed conditions, K.Ganesh, the Government agent of Jaffna said on Friday.

As the first phase of the resettlement process, civilians who were residing in areas belonging to the 36 Grama Sevaka (village level administrator) areas of Tellippalai regional secretariat will be allowed to return to their previous residences, the GA said.

Mr Ganesh will be meeting the affected civilians personally and collect the required information and submit a report before they are resettled. Meetings will be held in Tellipalai, Chankanai, Chavakachcheri, Chandilipay, Kayts and Uduvil, GA added.

Meanwhile, civilians from the HSZ areas presently residing out of Jaffna district are requested to submit their particulars before 20 February to the Tellippalai Regional secretary.

The civilians are to be permitted to resettle based on following four court- imposed conditions:

• The civilians should submit themselves for investigation by the regional secretary and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers.
• The resettling civilians should not pose a threat to the security forces.
• The activities of the civilians should be in accordance with the agreement already reached between the regional officials and SLA, and
• The returnees are not eligible to receive free dry rations supplied by the Government of Sri Lanka.

Those wishing to resettle have been asked to provide the required particulars including the name of the head of the family, number of family members, their address, and the name of the Grama Sevaka of the area of their residence prior to displacement.

An e-mail address "dsthellipalai@slt.lk" has also been provided to assist the potential returnees to expedite the administrative process.