(PTI) Sri Lankan government on Thursday claimed that it had succeeded in resettling over seven lakh war- displaced people in the north and eastern regions, leaving behind a little over 6,000 refugees in camps.
Gunaratna Weerakoon, the minister of resettlement told reporters that the resettlement process had made commendable progress, and that over 700,000 had been already resettled. "Since the end to the war we have successfully resettled 724,135 people or 216,412 families," Weerakoon said.
Officials said this included all civilians displaced by the government’s successful military campaign against the LTTE.
Nearly 300,000 civilians crossed over to the areas of government control during the last phase of the war in 2009. Out of these only a small number remains to be resettled, Weerakoon added.
"There are only two camps of IDPs now. They are 6556 people of 1965 families," Weerakoon said, adding that they were original settlers of Puthukudyiruppu in the northern Mullaithivu district, a former LTTE nerve centre.
Their resettlement has been hampered by the non clearance of land mines.
Weerakoon said that a jungle patch had been cleared to resettle them and initially some 200 families would be resettled.
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