Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Tuesday reiterated his party’s demand for according permanent resident status to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the State.
Writing in the DMK organ "Murasoli" even as Ministers deputed by him visited the 115 camps in the State where over 70,000 of the one lakh refugees are settled, Mr Karunanidhi said the State Government would be able to take further steps for their betterment if they were accorded permanent resident status.
The Ministers found during their visit that second generation refugees who were born and brought up in Tamil Nadu and many of whom had married locals, welcomed the DMK demand for resident status while their parents, who came in batches since the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom in Sri Lanka preferred to go home once a permanent settlement was found to the ethnic issue.
They were more concerned about the Government attending to their day-to-day problems like access for children's education, some kind of health cover, improved housing and sanitation.
Mr Karunanidhi recalled his party’s resolution adopted at the Kancheepuram conference in September calling for grant of resident status to the refugees and his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh immediately thereafter. Quoting from his letter, Mr. Karunanidhi wanted the Prime Minister to act on this request so that the refugees could become permanent residents of Tamil Nadu.
Pointing out that the State Government had allocated Rs.12 crore to improve the camps, he hoped the Centre would soon accede to the request for a grant of Rs 16 crore.
"This government wants to treat them not as Sri Lankan refugees but as Tamils who have umbilical cord relations with us," he said in a letter to party workers.
- Asian Tribune -
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