Permanent settlement eludes Batticaloa displaced

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 March 2011, 15:00 GMT]
Displaced families in Batticaloa district find very difficult to obtain lands to build their dwellings due to reckless attitude and inaction shown by respective Divisional Secretaries, civil sources say. The people of Pullumalai, Koppaave'li villages which come under Ea'raavoor-Chengkaladi DS division of Batticaloa, had been displaced at least six times due to atrocities committed by the armed forces since 1983 and sought accommodation in refugee camps and in places of relatives and friends and still are not permanently settled.

The 67 families which belong to “Uthayan Nakar” of the Chaththuruk-ko'ndaan division made several representations to the state officials and parliamentarians but were not successful.

In 1984, the Bishop of Batticaloa for compassionate reasons, helped each family with 24 perches of land in villages of Mayilampaave'li and Chaththuruk-ko'ndaan in the Ma'nmunai North Divisional Secretariat area and all the legal formalities too were observed including the deeds for the plots of land.

The Bishop also undertook the task of providing a housing scheme for the displaced.

Vipulaananthapuram was the name given to the housing scheme. “Uthayan Nakar” was the name given to the housing scheme at Chaththuruk-ko'ndaan.

However, the lands that were offered to those 67 families were acquired by the Government following Tsunami recovery operations, but they were not provided with alternative settlements.

No compensations were made so far. The Divisional Secretary of Ma'nmunai North Mrs.Kalamathi Pathmarajah had turned down a request by a delegation which met her on behalf of these families, declaring that she would not offer any land to those families in her division.

According to the affected families, they are ill treated because they are people of Indian origin.

The people of Pullumalai village were subjected to two genocidal efforts by the Sri Lanka military between the year 1983 and 2007, and were displaced six times within the district.

Meanwhile, there are 27 thousand to 30 thousands of acres of bare land available in the Batticaloa district, sources say.