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Housing Ministry appoints 3 resettlement officers for N-E

07 May 2021

  • Tasked with identifying, co-ordinating, and managing projects

By Pamodi Waravita    The Ministry of Urban Development and Housing has appointed a senior Resettlement Facilitating Officer and two Resettlement Facilitating Officers to identify, co-ordinate, and manage projects in the North and East that benefit the impoverished local populations of those areas. The Morning learnt that Engineer Sugathadasa Kongala Liyanage has been appointed as the Senior Resettlement Facilitating Officer for the North and the East, while Geethanath Kasilingam and Yasaranga Godawela have been appointed as Resettlement Facilitating Officers by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing. Kasilingam also serves as the Co-ordinating Secretary to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.  The State Ministry of Rural Housing, and Construction and Building Material Industries, which is tasked with providing houses for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), is supported by the relevant government agents and District Secretariats. The newly-appointed Resettlement Facilitating Officers will co-ordinate with these bodies.  The Morning also learnt earlier this year through Jaffna District Secretary Kanapathipillai Mahesan that there are 409 families living in approximately 23 welfare centres in the District. The Cabinet had approved a resolution submitted by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing for the purchase of up to 20 perches of land per family for 233 internally displaced families in the Jaffna District. Jaffna Additional District Secretary S. Muralitharan told The Morning at the time that he was hopeful that the resettlement issues of all these 409 families could be resolved by the end of 2021.  According to the Jaffna District Secretariat, since 2009, 38,025 families (122,140 individuals) were resettled, of which 117,151 persons were IDPs and 4,989 persons were returning Sri Lankan Refugees from India. Furthermore, there are 3,056 internally displaced families currently living with friends and relatives who have not received solutions either.


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