Govt. will be responsible for orphaned children

The Government said yesterday it would take full responsibility for the welfare of the 75 children who had lost their parents in Wednesday’s landslide catastrophe at Meeriyabedda Estate and that they would not be handed over to relatives, NGOs, foreign organisations or individuals.

Cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the weekly cabinet news briefing that past experience had shown that the children who had lost their parents in the 2004 tsunami had been abused, ill-treated and even abandoned by relatives who promised to take care of them after the disaster.

“The cabinet at its Thursday meeting discussed in detail the well-being of the victims of the massive landslide and in particular about the security, welfare and the future of some 75 children who have lost their parents and other family members. The cabinet decided to provide them with full security, education and accommodation at state expense. These children will not be even handed over to their close relatives,” he said.

The minister said the Government would work out a special welfare programme for these children while close relatives would be allowed to visit the children and inquire about their well-being and progress.

Referring to the allegations that the Government did not take timely action to evacuate the people from vulnerable areas, he said there were many allegations and counter allegations about this matter.

“Some say that National Building Research Organization (NBRO) had regularly warned the residents since 2005 and advised them to leave to safer locations. Others say they were warned but they were not provided with safer locations or housing. Another allegation is that the estate authorities did not pay heed to the warnings and had failed to take steps to evacuate the estate workers from the danger zone resulting in hundreds of innocent workers losing their lives and many more being displaced,” the minister said. “The government will take action against those who had placed these workers at risk despite repeated warnings. If any estate whose owners are found guilty of negligence is acquired, the estate workers will be provided a 10% golden share of the property.”