Aiming to increase the number of Sinhala settlers in the newly created division of Ma’nalaa’ru in Mulliath-theevu, which has been Sinhalicised into ‘Weli-oya’, the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has made hurried arrangements for bringing in 2,000 new Sinhala families, informed sources in Mullaith-theevu told TamilNet. Colombo government has allocated funds for the Sinhalicisation scheme under the Sri Lankan ‘defence expenditure’, the sources further said adding that large tracts of forest reserves have also been cleared for the colonization scheme.
2,000 Sinhala families are being brought from Bandarawela, Moneragala, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts and are being provided huts with the promise of a permanent housing scheme to be constructed through the funds allocated to the SL military.
Each family is assigned a Sinhala Army soldier as contact person during the colonization process.
One year ago, the number of Sinhalese in Weli-oya division stood at 11,1789 persons in 19 Sinhalicised villages, which were divided into 9 GS divisions.
The ‘All-Sinhala’ Weli-oya division has now wedged the Tamil contiguity of the Northern Province and the Eastern Province, while it established contiguity with the Sinhala district Anuradhapura in the North Central Province.
Earlier, the Mullaith-theevu district didn’t have a common boundary with Anuradhapura. Providing common boundary for Sinhala-colonised Weli-oya of Mullaith-theevu with the Sinhala North Central province became possible only by wedging the contiguity of the Tamil districts of Vavuniyaa and Trincomalee.
Colombo is also planning to carve out a new electoral division combining Mullaiththeevu’s Weli-oya with the villages of Trincomalee and Anuradhapura, the sources further said.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow TNN on Facebook and Twitter )