An appeal has been made to the Government of India to design a housing project in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces for refugees who return from Tamil Nadu and for internally displaced persons.
In a statement, K. Vigneswaran, who is heading Akhila Ilankai Tamil Mahasabha, a political body, and based out of Trincomalee in the Eastern Province, suggested that such a project be implemented over five years. Calling upon India to arrange for the transport of refugees by sea to the Trincomalee port, he said Sri Lanka’s Resettlement Authority should be tasked with the transport of the returnees within the country and provision of temporary accommodation. The Resettlement Authority also should carry out the rehabilitation of the Kankesanthurai port and the Talaimannar pier.
Mr. Vigneswaran, who served as the Secretary to the once-unified North-eastern Province’s Chief Minister, Varadaraja Perumal, during 1988-90, wanted the Indian government to bring in investors for rehabilitation and development projects of the Resettlement Authority in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. As a priority, the investors would provide job opportunities to the refugee-returnees, depending on their skills, given that there was a large number of graduates, including engineering graduates, among them.
He appreciated Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s measures to improve the lot of refugees living in the State and said this should be taken as a “signal” for the Indian and Sri Lankan governments to resolve the issues in the voluntary repatriation of refugees.
