Chennai, Sept 14 (BPNS)

The Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are in rehabilitation camps for them at Dindigul for the past thirty years can now live in concrete houses. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin on Wednesday inaugurated the Sri Lankan Tamil’s rehabilitation camp through video conferencing from Chennai.

The rehabilitation camp at Dindigul for Tamil refugees is spread across 7 acres of land and has 321 houses.  These houses are constructed at a cost of Rs 17.84 crore. According to Dindigul district administration, each house has a 300 sq ft area with a living room, a bedroom, a kitchen, and a toilet. Each house cost Rs 4.95 lakh. The foundation stone for the project was done in December 2021 and completed in nine months.

The rehabilitation camp for Tamil refugees at Dindigul also has an overhead water tank with a capacity of 60000 litres

Presently 70 families who are living in the Dindigul camp will be shifted to the new concrete houses. Inmates of camps in Gopalpatti, Adiyanthu, and Thottanuthu will be shifted to the Dindigul rehabilitation camp.

It may be noted that it was the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi who had allocated thatched houses for Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka at Adiyanthu. The Sri Lankan Tamil refugees have reached the state in 1990 after they fled from the island nation during the civil war in that country.

Tamil Nadu minister for cooperation, I. Periyasamy, Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, R. Sakkarapani and Minister for Minorities Welfare and Non-Resident Tamils welfare, Gingee S. Masthan handed over the keys of the houses to the beneficiaries.