Resettlement allowance not paid to Thenmaradchchi IDPs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 18:35 GMT]
Eighty percent of the resettled internally displaced persons(IDP) in Thenmaradchchi division in the Jaffna district have not been paid their resettlement allowance by the Sri Lankan government, divisional secretariat sources said.

Since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, about 70,236 persons from 19322 IDP families have returned to their lands upto August this year. Of them, the divisional secretariat has recommended13,375 families for resettlement allowances. However, only twenty percent of these families have been paid their resettlement allowances and the rest has not been paid, sources said.

The authorities concerned said the necessary fund needed for this purpose has not been released by the Sri Lankan government.

Meanwhile, the Jaffna district secretariat has refused to pay resettlement allowances to IDP families who have returned after the ceasefire agreement came into operation but are not allowed by the Sri Lanka Army to resettle in the their lands and houses as they are located in the high security zones, sources said.

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