Nearly 16.000 houses have been allocated for families of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) within the past three years, the Government’s special facilitator for North and East, Geethanath Cassilingham said.
He said the houses, including 6000 houses that were sanctioned this year alone, have been allotted by the Ministry of Resettlement.
Issuing a statement on Twitter, Cassilingham said the Ministry of Resettlement is engaged in a rapid resettlement program on the instructions of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
“Despite the obstacles by the COVID-19 pandemic which slowed the growth of several sectors, the Resettlement Ministry was able to continue providing funds and land to settle the families in the IDP camps. The number of families remaining in these camps is now minimal which is why the government is aiming to close the camps in the north by sometime next year,” he said.
Jaffna is reported to have the highest number of IDP camps, followed by Vavuniya and Batticaloa. (NewsWire)