No infrastructure to take care of floods displaced genocide victims of Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 December 2011, 06:47 GMT]
11,000 people belonging to 2,556 families have been displaced from the low-lying lands of Ki'linochchi district this week following heavy rain and floods, according to District Secretariat officials in Ki'linochchi. Of these, only 1,443 persons of 349 families have been provided refuge by the SL administration. The remaining families have been struggling to find space with their relatives and friends elsewhere. Most of the ‘re-settled’ victims of genocide were living in temporary huts in the low-lying lands. But, the floods have taken away even their huts while destroying their agricultural produce, the livelihood for which the people had to borrow money from the SL banks. Despite the claims by the SL government that people have been resettled and their infrastructure restored, the district remains roofless to accommodate people affected by the floods, even after two years of the war. 

The civil officials were recalling that the civil administration during the times of the war under the LTTE was better equipped to handle such crises. 

“Even though we were displaced from time to time, the civil administration under the Tigers took care of the infra-structure. When people moved the infra-structure also moved and the social institutions were kept alive. But, now, it is only A9”, said a civil official describing the plight of the floods affected victims. 

“The civil administration these days has become A9 centric. We even call the Sri Lankan Government Agents of Jaffna, Ki'ilnochchi and Vavuniyaa as ‘A9 GAs’, who have become part of the SL military-led administration.”

These GA's were earlier answerable also to the civil administration of the LTTE and had to adopt a people-centric approach.

Pannang-ka'ndi, Umaiyaa'l-puram, Naakeanthira-puram, Kumaarasaami-puram, Murasu-moaddai, Tharma-puram, Vannearik-ku'lam and a part of the Poonakari (Pooneryn) constitute the low-lying lands that get affected by the floods caused by spill water of Ira'naimadu-tank.

But, in the so-called development programme of SL presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa, there is no plan to construct a canal to safeguard the people and paddy lands in the low-lying lands from the floods. 

Only an external pressure could bring in a change in the system, which is controlled by the SL military-led administration, which is waging a war of structural genocide on Eezham Tamils, was the opinion of concerned civil officials in Vanni.

“According to the figures from July this year, at least 18,000 civilians in the district didn't have proper roof. No you can add another 10,000 to it,” an official to TamilNet.

On the road to Kanakapuram from Ki'inochchi town, 250 meters of road was re-constructed during the election times. Nothing more has taken place. The entire road is gone in the floods. The SLGA from Ki'linochchi had told the District Development Council recently that millions of rupees were spent on constructing this road. 

253 floods affected families are sheltered at the nursery building at Sivapuram in Paranthan. The other places where flood affected families are given shelter are: 61 families at the church in Tharmapuram East , 14 families at the schools of Thampiraasapuram and Kumarasaami-puram, 12 families at Kallaa'ru and Thampiraasapuram schools and 9 families at Pu'liyampokka'nai and Naakenthira-puram.

The students who sit for GCE (O/L) exams are badly affected by the displacement.