2ND LEAD (ADDS MAP)

Sinhalese being settled in Tamil village in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 April 2011, 11:02 GMT]
Lands in abandoned traditional Tamil village Thennaimaravaadi in Trincomalee district are being allocated three acres each to members of ‘home guards’, now known as Civil defence Force (CVF), dominated by Sinhalese. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Trincomalee is organizing the transfer of land on the instruction of the SLA headquarters in Colombo without the approval of local civil authority, Tamil sources allege.



Thennaimaravaadi village is located on the northern border of the eastern province, 72 km off north of Trincomalee town in the Trincomalee district.

Tamil families had fled from the village leaving their huts and paddy lands due to the military operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army.

The displaced Tamil families have not been resettled and the civil authority has failed to take steps to resettle these families. Hence the village has become a shrub jungle covering the houses and lands of Tamil families.

On receipt of displaced Tamil families a delegation of Tamil activists led by the General Secretary of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) and Jaffna district TNA parliamentarian, Maavai Senathirajah, last week went to Thennaimaravaadi to see the ground situation.

He was asked not to proceed into the village from a certain point but was asked to visit again with the permission of the Defense Authority in Colombo.

Mr. Maavai Senathirajah had to return to Trincomalee without visiting the village to see the status of Sinhala colonization taking place there.