Jaffna IDPs oppose move to reduce relief

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2004, 17:11 GMT]
Internally displaced people (IDPs) living on relief assistance provided by the Sri Lankan government are planning to launch a protest campaign if the authorities failed to suspend their decision to cut down the number of recipients by half, warned Valikaamam Fisheries Societies Federation in the northern Jaffna peninsula in a memorandum handed over to Point Pedro Divisional Secretary, Friday.

Instead of reducing the amount of people receiving relief, the Sri Lanka Government should increase the amount of relief given to the IDPs to offset the increases in prices of essential food materials, the memorandum said.

Thousands of people of coastal villages of Myliddy, Palaly, Kankesanthurai, Senthankulam and Valithoondal of Valikaamam North and Nagarkovil in Vadamarachchi East are living in coastal villages in Vadamaradchchi North as IDPs. Their lands and houses fall inside the High Security Zone and are occupied by the SLA.

The IDPs depend on the relief for their day-to-day living.

The Sri Lanka government is now taking steps to cut down the number of IDPs receiving relief assistance by fifty percent. Hence the civil groups in these divisions have jointly taken a decision to oppose the move and to launch a non-violent protest campaign against the government's decision, an official of the federation told TamilNet.