Menik Farm in north to close

The Sri Lankan Government is taking accelerated measures to close the last of the camps that housed over 200,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the conclusion of the war in May 2009.

The Government announced yesterday that preparations are underway to construct a new village of 600 acres in Kombavil of Mullaitivu District for the IDPs currently remaining in the Menik Farm relief village in Vavuniya.

Accordingly, 7,394 IDPs of 2,097 families presently living in Menik Farm relief village will be resettled in the Kombavil village.

The Government is to provide each family with a 40-perch block of land and a semi-permanent house to restart their lives soon after the resettlement.

The new village is adjacent to their places of origin in Puthukudiyiruppu and Meritimepattu of Mullaitivu District where the demining process is still on-going.

The Government says this remedial measure is taken as the area is still unsafe for civilian living.

The yet uncleared area that includes seven GN Divisions of Puthukudiyiruppu and three GN Divisions in Meritimepattu are heavily mined and dense with unexploded ordnance, the military sources say.

The Government Agent of Mullaitivu, the UN agencies involved in the resettlement, the NGOs and the Sri Lankan Army have launched an awareness programme called “Come and Tell” for the IDPs to learn about their future abodes.

The programme will allow the IDPs to visit the new site at Kombavil village.  During the final phase of the war in May 2009 over 280,000 displaced civilians who sought shelter in the Government controlled areas were housed in the Manik Farm welfare village.

(www.colombopage.com)