Uprooted Tamils from Puthukkudiyiruppu still strive for resettlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 March 2011, 19:41 GMT]
Large number of Tamil families from Mullaiththeevu district of Vanni, forcibly displaced and still held behind barbed wire camps in Menik Farm and other places, are yet to be allowed into their native villages in Puthukkudiyiruppu. The occupying Sri Lankan military has only allowed civilians to enter 6 of 19 Village Officer (GS) divisions in Puthukkudiyiruppu. So far, Only 68,846 persons from 23,050 families have been resettled in 65 out of 92 Village Officer divisions in Mullaiththeevu district. Thirty percent of the civilians are not allowed to resettle in the entire district of Mullaiththeevu, according to the data from the Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat.

People from Puthukkudiyiruppu, either stay with their friends and relatives or continue to stay in the detention camps of Colombo in Vavuniyaa and Jaffna.

The Sri Lankan government has still not granted permission for resettlement in the remaning 27 Village Divisions of Puthukkudiyiruppu.

The figures were somewhat satisfactory only in Odduchchuddaan division, where resettlement was reported in 26 of 27 Village Officer divisions.

In Karaithu'raippattu, uprooted people are still not allowed to resettle in 11 of 46 Village Officer divisions.

The Sri Lankan Government Agent of the district, E. Paththinathan, who verified the figures, cited the presence of land mines as the reason for the inordinate delay in resettlement.

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