UN, EU reps discuss development with Batticaloa district GA

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 2010, 08:34 GMT]
The delegation led by Neil Buhne, the UN Resident Representative and Human Coordinator, accompanied by representatives of European Union, met Batticaloa district Government Agent (GA) Suntharam Arumainayagam Wednesday and discussed matters related to the development of Batticaloa district, Batticaloa District Secretariat sources said. Meanwhile, the resettled families in Paduvaankarai complained that though Sri Lanka Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan says that funds have been allocated for the supply of drinking water to them every time he comes to Batticaloa, nothing has been done, the sources added. Lack of drinking water is the most serious problem the resettled families in Paduvaankarai face.
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Properties of uprooted families in Vadamaraadchi East plundered by SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 2010, 06:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) have constructed many bases and camps in the properties of uprooted families and on the coastal villages of Vadamaraadchi East using the roofing, door and windows plundered from the shops and houses left by the residents, persons who visited the area said. The areas from Naakar-koayil to Kaddaik-kaadu are fully occupied by SLA and SLN, they further said. Meanwhile, Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar has announced that uprooted families from Vadamaraadchi East will be taken to their own places in the second stage of the resettlement plan and that Jaffna SLA Command had given permission for the resettlement.
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Resettled families in Jaffna peninsula abandoned by SL government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 2010, 05:56 GMT]
Non-government Organizations in Jaffna peninsula accuse Sri Lanka government to have abandoned most of the uprooted families resettled in Jaffna peninsula without providing them adequate assistance for rehabilitation. 82,000 uprooted persons had been resettled in Jaffna peninsula so far, according to Jaffna Secretariat statistics. Meanwhile, nearly 100,000 persons uprooted from Valikaamam North High Security Zone of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) twenty years ago continue to stay with their relatives, friends and in camps not allowed by SLA to resettle in their own properties.
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TNA attends SL District Development meeting in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 2010, 04:48 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarians Suresh Premachandran and Sarvanabavan participated in the Sri Lanka government’s Jaffna District Development meeting Sunday in Jaffna. This is the first time TNA parliamentarians are participating in the District Development Meeting in Jaffna district. Suresh Premachandran had issued a message to local media Saturday night that TNA will attend the Sunday meeting. Sri Lanka Minister of Disaster Management A. H. M. Fowzi and SL Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Douglas Devananda jointly chaired the Sunday meeting.
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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.
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ICRC to close Mannaar office end of November

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2010, 16:44 GMT]
The Mannaar district regional office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is to be closed down at the end of November 2010, according to a news release by the ICRC. It will however continue to support communities that are being resettled in the area from its regional office in Vavuniyaa, which will also assist beneficiaries of the ICRC's Family Visits Assistance (FVA) programme, the release further said..
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Some areas in Vadamaraadchi East to be declared HSZ

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2010, 03:01 GMT]
The uprooted families of Vadamaraadchi East ín Raamaavil and Kudaththanai camps who will be taken to Vadamaraadchi East Thursday will be first lodged in four government buildings and the families from Kaddaikkaadu and Vettilaikkea'ni areas will not be permitted to resettle in their own houses as these villages now occupied by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) are expected to be declared as High Security Zone (HSZ), Jaffna District Secretariat sources said. The uprooted families from these villages may have to remain in the government buildings and nothing can be confirmed about the resettlement procedure now, according to Maruthangkea'ni Assistant Government Agent Office sources. Meanwhile, Point Pedro-Maruthangkea'ni road through Naakarkoayil that had been closed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for the last fifteen years will be opened for public use Thursday from 7:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m, the sources added.
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All island District Government Agents conference in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2010, 15:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Public Administration Affairs Ministry held its first all island District Government Agents conference in Jaffna Monday in District Secretaiat hall at 9:00 a.m presided by Sri Lanka Minister of Public Administration, John Seneviratne. Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar told Tamilnet that past development activities in the North and future devolpment projects were discussed in the meeting. Allocation of funds for various projects was also considered, the GA said.
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Uprooted families from Vadamaraadchi East, Pa’lai to be resettled

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2010, 06:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka government authorities in Jaffna have announced that uprooted families from Pa’lai Divisional Secretary area and Vadamaraadchi East in Jaffna district will be resettled in their own villages 9 and 10 September. The announcement comes in the wake of the recent meeting held on this issue between Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander and Jaffna Government Agent in Palaali Military head office. Though similar announcements had been made on resettling the uprooted families from Valikaamam North SLA High Security Zone earlier, so far they had not been allowed to resettle by SLA. The uprooted families now held in interim camps said that they will believe the announcement only when it becomes a reality.
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Properties of uprooted in Vanni plundered with SLA assistance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 05:55 GMT]
Muslim and Sinhala traders from Southern Sri Lanka are actively plundering the properties abandoned when the people of Vanni were forced to leave them during war, with the assistance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers occupying Vanni. The traders make huge profits transporting them in vehicles to Vavuniyaa, Anurdapura and Puththa’lam for sale. The plundered goods include iron objects, spare parts dismantled from abandoned vehicles, house fittings and other valuable things. SLA soldiers are given a percentage of the profits made by the traders for allowing them to plunder and transport the goods of the people in Vanni to the South, sources in Vanni said.
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Nirupama meeting uprooted families in Champoor cancelled

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 04:48 GMT]
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao Wednesday visited Trincomalee and held talks with the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan and the Governor of Eastern Province at their respective offices. But her scheduled visit to Champoor in Moothoor East Wednesday was cancelled at the last minute. According to her program she was to meet uprooted people of Champoor now lodged elsewhere. The reason for the cancellation was not disclosed, Trincomalee sources said.
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80% of resettled families in Batticaloa not paid livelihood assistance

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 August 2010, 05:53 GMT]
Around eighty percent of resettled people in Batticaloa district have not been paid their livelihood assistance of twenty-five thousand rupees. Others were not paid a single cent as livelihood assistance they are entitled at the time of resettlement, according to Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Pon. Selvarajah.
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No Tamil doctors in Vaakarai government hospital

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 August 2010, 06:23 GMT]
Residents of Vaakarai, a traditional Tamil village in Batticaloa district, find difficult to explain their illness and obtain treatment as medical officers who can converse in Tamil language are not posted to Vaakarai government hospital. All medical officers posted to this hospital are Sinhala, the residents said.
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Resettled families in Vanni left to suffer in downpour

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 August 2010, 06:43 GMT]
Rains have been pouring down in Vanni for the last four days with the break of North East Monsoon in Sri Lanka and the resettled families sheltered under makeshift huts without proper roofing are left without any assistance to face the onslaught of the monsoon that will last until the end of December, Non-government Organization (NGO) representatives who visited Vanni said. Promises of constructing houses for the resettled families in Vanni by the Indian government and World Bank are yet to be fulfilled.
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Indian Foreign Affairs minister to visit Sri Lanka in September

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 August 2010, 13:45 GMT]
In response to the accusations raised by All India Anna Dravidia Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) parliamentarians against the Indian Government for having not given any help to the uprooted Tamils in Sri Lanka held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps or any assistance to the resettled Tamils in Vanni in Indian Parliament Wednesday, Indian Foreign Affairs minister, S. M. Krishna, told the parliament he will be visiting Sri Lanka late September to hold talks with Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa again on the issues raised.
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NP Governor wants teaching stopped in war damaged schools in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 August 2010, 05:41 GMT]
Northern Province Governor, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri instructed the Education Authorities in Vanni to stop all educational activities in the schools in Vanni that were damaged and destroyed during Sri Lanka government's war on Vanni until they are rebuilt or renovated, in a meeting held in Vavuniyaa Monday with the officials of the Northern Province Ministry of Education and Vanni education authorities, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Governor's order is seen as a blow on the students of Vanni who already had been robbed of their education by the war, Vanni education officials said.
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Devotees throng tenth day Nalloor temple festival

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 August 2010, 05:39 GMT]
Thousands of devotees from all parts of Sri Lanka as well as from abroad attended the 'Manchath Thiruvizhaa' on the tenth day of the annual festival of Nalloor Kanthasuvaami temple in Jaffna Tuesday, sources in Jaffna said. Police personnel posted at the entrances of the temple checked the persons entering the temple grounds. But thefts of gold jewelry from the devotees did take place, according to complaints made to the security officers of Jaffna Municipal Council, the sources said.
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Attempt to misuse resettled women in Vanni foiled

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2010, 06:38 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Saravanabavan and Sritharan intervened and stopped Sunday the attempt of a private company from Kandy in Ki'linochchi town enticing young women recently allowed to resettle in Vanni, with job opportunities in South Sri Lanka with attractive salaries. The parliamentarians, on suspicion raised by local people about the true intent of the company, visited the enlisting place in front of Ki'linochchi Government Secretariat and prevented the unsuspecting young women being taken away to the South.
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NP Governor urged to allow Muslims to resettle in Jaffna without restrictions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2010, 05:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Deputy minister of resettlement Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna had said during his recent visit to Jaffna that the uprooted Muslims located in other parts of Sri Lanka including Puththa'lam living in houses given to them by Sri Lanka government should hand them back and the relief measures to them will be stopped if they choose to resettle in Jaffna. This has caused anger among the Muslims uprooted due to war and the president of one of their associations took the matter to Northern Province Governor at his Jaffna residence Thursday, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA imposes new restrictions on resettled families in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2010, 05:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Vanni has instructed the resettled families not to allow anyone other than the family members to stay with them and not to offer food, sources in Vanni said. The restriction causes great difficulty for the relatives and friends of the resettled families who come a long way from Vavuniyaa, Jaffna and other places to visit them. Meanwhile, a large number of army uniforms had gone missing recently in one of the SLA camps in Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni, the sources said.
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