Lands to be returned to 197 displaced Tamil families in the north
Some 197 Tamil families who had been displaced from the Thellippalai Divisional Secretary area will next week regain possession of their lands after a 30-year wait.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe will officially hand over the lands next Saturday.
Most had been displaced overnight after the LTTE ordered them out from highly residential and fertile lands in Keerimalai, Thelippalai, Mailaddy, Mawattapuram and parts of Kankesanthruai.
With the Kankesanthurai harbour in the locality and the outbreak of the war, civilians moved to safer locations, including Jaffna town and Kilinochchi. Few others fled to India. An estimated 71,000 had fled the area.
Some 3,000 of those displaced and re-displaced, live in Government maintained welfare centres.
Jaffna's Security Forces Commander Major General Swarna Buthota on Friday officially handed over the lands back to Jaffna District Secretary Ambalawan Sivabalasundaran at an event held at Anthonipuram. The Additional District Secretary (Lands) S. Muralitharan was also present .
Also present were Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda, Parliamentarians M.A. Sumanthiran, Angajan Ramanathan, and Northern Provincial Council chairman C.V.K. Sivagnanam, and president's secretary E. Elangovan.
Many of the landowners who were present are eager to get back to their lands, but are expecting Government assistance to repair, or rebuild their houses.
N. Murali, one of the land owners who had been displaced, told the Sunday Times that he and his sister owned some 50 perches, but sea erosion had washed away a part of it. “As a public sector employee I am happy that I have received my land back. I will try to develop the land again,’’ he said.
TNA lawmaker Charles Nirmalanthan said the release of the lands would raise hopes among the Tamil community, but more lands need to be released as promised by the President. He said some of the lands are in the Wanni region.
Journalists who visited the areas saw some buildings that had been demolished. Few buildings had been maintained and used by the military. Among them was the KKS Tamil Maha Vidyalaya, which had been refurbished.
Meanwhile, more lands in the Karainagar, Vaddukoddai, Jaffna, Udupiddy and Point Pedro remain to be released.