Musali residents oppose ‘special resettlement’

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan-Thursday, 15 Aug 2013

Residents of Musali in the Mannar District have raised concerns over a ‘special resettlement’ programme in their area, under which 1,300 Sinhalese families from Anuradhapura are to be ‘resettled’ in a four-kilometre stretch between Kondaachchi and Kokupadayan (close to Mullikulam).

According to sources, a jungle area spanning approximately 400 acres has been cleared and land flattened for this purpose. Each of these families is to be provided with half an acre of land and a house, which will be constructed soon.

The villagers alleged the people, who arrived in busloads, were brought from Mahavilachchiya and Nochchiyagama villages in Anuradhapura to Musali, in order for them to be registered before the upcoming Provincial Council (PC) elections.

However, Ceylon Today learned the people, on being taken to the Divisional Secretariat, were refused registration on grounds that residents of Anuradhapura are neither war victims nor Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and therefore cannot be ‘resettled’ in Musali.

Sources further revealed the Divisional Secretariat has requested the Presidential Task Force to cancel the existing residential registration of these individuals in Anuradhapura, before they are registered in Musali. The request has, however, been rejected by the authorities.

Divisional Secretary (DS) Ketheeswaran has refused to comply, putting the registration process on hold. The DS has subsequently been notified of a transfer, as a result of his dispute with the officials.

Mannar Government Agent (GA), M.Y.S. Deshapriya, when contacted by Ceylon Today, denied the allegations, declaring this to be a part of the ‘usual’ resettlement programme being conducted in haste.

The GA also denied the people from Anuradhapura were brought in buses to Musali and assured the present DS has not been given a transfer. However, Ceylon Today understands the previous DS, Sarath Raveendran, who vehemently opposed a ‘special resettlement’ system of this kind, has already been transferred.

The residents of Kondaachchi claim regions close to the seashore have been earmarked to resettle the Sinhalese families.

What used to be the Kadju Watte (cashew plantation), but was shut down during the war, will be reopened and the newly resettled families will be employed there, sources stated.

In addition to that 2,500 Muslim families, who were displaced in the 90s due to the civil war, have now returned in multiples and the number of Muslim families in the area has now increased to 6,000. The Musali Muslims claim they have been deprived of land because, a part of the land allotted to them, about five acres, is now being allocated to resettle the Sinhalese families. Thus, a tense situation prevails among different communities in the area.

Several churches and mosques in Musali have also affirmed the people have been brought there from Anuradhapura for registration and the land has been cleared for resettlement purposes.