Life line daily radio show #139 (30 July 2009)
Nearly Rs. 203 million has been allocated to resettle 2200 families in Karachi DS division Killinochchi. A child care centre in Zone 4 of Manik Farm is ready to house 400 unaccompanied children while the SOS organisation helps find their families. Meanwhile, around 3,000 students from Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mullaitivu participated in a joint Sinhala and Tamil peace building program yesterday. And there are five companies working to reconstruct a stretch of 11kilometers of road ahead of the Madhu festival.
- Almost Rs203 million allocated to resettle 2,200 families in Killinochchi*
- Child care center established in Manik Farm Zone 4
- 20 schools take part in peace building program
- Reconstructing the road to Madhu shrine
Almost Rs. 203 million allocated to resettle 2,200 families in Killinochchi
A top level meeting about resettlement plans for IDPs in Killinochchi took place yesterday between the Government Agent of Killinochchi and the area’s army commander. Killinochchi GA, Mr Vedhanayagam said afterwards: “At the meeting, five villages from the Karaichchi divisional secretariat were identified for resettlement – Jeyanthinagar, Rudarpuram east, Puthumuruipu, Krishnapuram and Kanagapuram – and 2,200 families are to be resettled on or before August 15 in these areas. It was suggested at the meeting to expedite the work of all the departments that are involved, to start their work. All the families will be given Rs. 25,000 as compensation and people will also be given roofing materials and a set of essential household equipment. The budget allocated for each department to continue the rehabilitation and reconstruction work is as follows: for main roads Rs. 60 million and for internal roads, Rs.50 million. Rs 38million is set aside for small lakes and Rs.5 million for irrigation. For cooperative society renovation, Rs.20 million and for agricultural research institute Rs.30 million has been allocated. Furthermore a police station and a court is also to be set up and government officials have visited and assessed the areas.”
Child care center established in Manik Farm Zone 4
A child care center has been established in Block F of Zone 4 in Manik Farm by the SOS organization, to house orphans and other children who were separated from their parents. The centre was set up after an instruction by Presidential Advisor, Basil Rajapakshe. There are currently four units and around 400 children under the age of 15 are ready to be transferred to the child care center by next week. This center has two dining rooms, a kitchen and separate toilet facilities for girls and boys. Arrangements have been made for the SOS staff working inside Manik Farm to look after the children. The SOS Deputy Country Director, Divagar Ratnadurai explained: “Our organization has come forward to find out about of the parents of these children in order to reunite them. SOS is also prepared to establish a new children’s home in Vavuniya or Mankulam or Killinochchi to accommodate the orphaned children.”
20 schools take part in peace building program
The Nation Building and Infrastructure Ministry and the Community Development Center in Vavuniya launched a leadership and co-existence program yesterday. This program is to help the welfare of students in Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mullaitivu districts. Around 3,000 students took part in the opening ceremony. Nation Building and Infrastructure Minister, S.M. Chandrasena said: “We explained about the importance of co-existence to the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim students when we got them together at Tamil Maha Vidyalaya. They have participated from 20 schools and we also organized Sinhala and Tamil cultural programs and the selected school students and teachers joined in this program.”
Speaking with regard to the peace building program, the Community Development Center’s Leader, Nandana Wijesinghe stated: “We organized training in art for Northern and Eastern students with the support of Maharagama Youth Service Society. Several skilled artists were involved in training these students and we organized an art exhibition of the work they produced to celebrate the completion of our two year program. We have planned to have an exhibition in Vavuniya schools as well and we will provide them with the necessary training to produce handicrafts, wood carving and sculptures.”
Reconstructing the road to the Madhu shrine
The government has started to develop the Madhu road for the forthcoming religious festival, which begins on August 6. Five companies are working to reconstruct a stretch of 11 kilometers of the road before August 5. Each company has to renovate two kilometers and every byroad will also be reconstructed. Rev. Victor Soosai stated: “The Ministry of Road Development started work on the roads two weeks ago and now the roads are looking much better than before.” A new road to the church is also being constructed. The Deputy Minister of Road Development W. Bandara Ekanayake said that Rs. 1.5 million has been allocated to reconstruct all the roads in Madhu.
