Thenmaraadchi farmers to be allowed to resume cultivation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 2009, 06:45 GMT]
An event, where the farmers of Thenmaraadchi who had been refused permission to cultivate their lands in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thenmarraadchi for nearly ten years are to be allowed to resume cultivation Thursday, has been announced by Sri Lanka government. Meanwhile, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Allaippiddi who had fled their village due to SLA artillery attacks in August 2006 and now living in Jaffna town have been asked to be present at Duraippah Stadium Thursday to participate in an event where action will be taken to resettle them, according to another announcement. Basil Rajapakse, parliamentarian and Senior Advisor to the President, Northern Province Governor, G. A. Chandrasiri and Minister of Social Services, Douglas Devananda, will be present at both events, the announcements said.

The paddy fields in Ma’ravanpulavu, Koayilaak-ka’ndi and Thanangki’lappu which have been turned into HSZ and occupied by SLA are the areas in which the farmers are to be allowed to resume cultivation.

These paddy fields had produced one sixth of the total paddy produce of Jaffna peninsula before being occupied by SLA.

Meanwhile, IDPs from Allaipiddi and Ma’nkumpaan villages in the islets of Jaffna who were forced to displace due to SLA artillery attacks in August 2006 and now living in Jaffna town areas have been asked to present themselves Thursday at Duraippah Stadium in Jaffna in connection with resettlement in their own villages.

520 members of 157 families from Allaippiddi and 64 members of 234 families from Ma’nkumpaan are the IDPs now living in Jaffna.

Eleven civilians had been massacred in Allaippiddi and following this incident hundreds of people had been killed and injured in the SLA artillery attack in August 2006 forcing them to flee their villages.