Rupees 12 crore for Sri Lankan refugee camps in India

Chennai, Nov 2 : The Tamil Nadu government has decided to spend around Rupees 12 crore to improve the amenities in the 115 refugee camps that house Sri Lankan Tamils in the state.

It was decided at a high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi here Monday, it was decided that various ministers will visit the camps and submit their reports by Nov 10.

Based on their recommendations, the mode of spending the budgeted amount will be finalised, the meeting decided.

Hearing the problems faced by the refugees living in the camps, Karunanidhi told the officials: "The people living in the refugee camps should be viewed as Tamilians and not as refugees."

Soon after the DMK government assumed office in 2006, ministers visited the refugee camps and submitted a report on the refugee camps, which first came up in 1983.

Based on that report, the Tamil Nadu government sought Rs.16 crore assistance from the central government to implement schemes to improve the lot of the refugees.

With the centre remaining silent on the request since 2006, the state government had allocated Rs.5 crore in its latest budget.

The DMK government has also sought Indian citizenship for the Sri Lankan refugees numbering over 100,000.

India has decided to give Rs.1,000 crore to the Sri Lankan government for rehabilitation of Tamils displaced by the military campaign against the Tamil Tigers that ended in May this year.

Sri Lankan Tamils have fled their country in large numbers since Tamil militancy erupted into insurgency over a quarter century ago. While many thousands live in India, many more have chosen the West to begin lives anew.