Colombo: Sri Lankan authorities on Thursday claimed that all displaced Tamils from the country's eastern provinces have been resettled back in their homes.
All the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) centres and Transit camps have been closed after people were moved to their homes under 'Eastern Re-awakening' project, the Army said.
An Army statement said the final batch, comprising 9,524 displaced persons belonging to 3,217 families from the eastern province who had been living in the IDP centres in Vavuniya, had been sent back to their homes.
The resettlement comes as Colombo is facing immense pressure from US, UN, EU nations and international rights body to repatriate tens of thousands of people displaced from northern and eastern provinces back to their homes.
Army with the assistance of authorities in Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts found alternative dwellings for these displaced people.
As part of the project, the displaced persons were given building materials, funds for any eventual reconstruction. The refugees were also given stocks of dry rations, cooking utensils and transport facilities, Maj Gen Srinath Rajapaksa, Commander of Sri Lankan Security Forces in the East, said.
"Those resettled people were assisted by the Army to find new avenues of income in the agricultural and fishing sectors and other jobs in respective areas," the Army statement said.
Of the IDPs in East, about 6,492 people were accommodated in Trincomalee district under 22 Division while another 2,439 people, belonging to 875 families, found their new dwellings in Batticaloa district.
Bureau Report