Village liquidated in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2012, 06:59 GMT]
Chooriya-puram village, created by the LTTE near Keappaa-pulavu in the Puthukkudiyiruppu division of Mullaiththeevu district, to accommodate landless peasants, has been liquidated by the occupying Sinhala military that is engaged in that locality in building a 1200-acre base, news sources in Vanni said. Around 500 families of the locality have lost their living space and are degenerating in their refugee life, either staying in camps or in the houses of relatives and friends. Around 100 families of the Chooriyapuram village, brought from the internment camps for resettlement, are stranded now.

Chooriya-puram village was created 8 km away from Puthukkudiyiruppu, towards Vattaap-pazhai, with all amenities such as houses, drinking water, toilets etc. It was conceived by the LTTE as a model village for landless people and a satellite village for the developing town of Puthukkudiyiruppu.

Landless people in the neighbouring forest areas were given a respectable living space in this village and they were engaged in services and small-scale farming.

But it was not an ‘LTTE Settlement’ as occupying Colombo is campaigning now as an excuse for the annihilation of the village. The LTTE never used that village for its activities.

The villagers are not only refused of resettlement in their former village, but also are denied of rehabilitation facilities meant for the displaced after the war.

Staying in the houses of relatives and friends in the neighbouring Vattaap-pazhai, the families are degenerating. Some continue to remain in the camps.

Commenting on the shortcomings of rehabilitation, a district official said that most of the cases of school dropouts, child exploitation, labour exploitation and social deviations take place in circumstances when the displaced stay in others’ households.

The SL government has no agenda to address the needs of this section of the society, in which the women and children are the worst affected, the official said.