Task force to be set up for Sri Lanka’s internally displaced: cabinet

July 08, 2016 (LBO) - Sri Lanka will set up a task force for the resettlement of "Protracted Internally Displaced Persons" in the Northern Province, a cabinet statement for this week said.





"IDPs were seen since the 1980s due to the conflict situation.

These include Tamil as well as Sinhala and Muslim families in the Northern Province," the cabinet paper said. "After the end of the conflict these IDPs began to return to their homeland but with lack of infrastructure the process was not successful.





Muslim and Sinhala IDP families need 16,120 and 5,543 houses respectively," the statement added. A Task Force will be set up in this regard with the co-chairmanship of the Ministers of Industry and Commerce and Provincial Councils and Local Government to proceed according to its recommendations.