(May 23, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The recent phase of war displaced around 350,000 people. They are languishing in government camps under trying conditions. They have done their share of sacrifices for national liberation. Looking after them is a very costly affair. It may cost around Rs 35 million a day! A month would cost over a billion rupees (US$ 8 million) and three months bill exceeds 3 billion rupees (US$ 27 million). This is a colossal amount of money with no return for the economy.. It can be better utilised in rebuilding the North and resettling them. The sooner it happens the better as each passing day costs the country millions.
There is another hidden cost in this whole exercise. As long as these people are in refugee camps, all economic activity in Vanni is at a standstill. It is true that Vanni is not comparable to national economic averages, but even its individual economic contribution is taken at half the national average, it is US$ 250 million a year.. Already five months have been seriously affected with virtually no economic activity happening in Vanni. This is a huge loss of over US$ 100 million.. Every passing month cost the economy more than US$ 21 million. These numbers are much higher than the value of foreign aid Sri Lanka receives to look after the IDPs.
United Nations Secretary General Ban ki-Moon talks to the media on an aircraft en route to Sri Lanka from Frankfurt in Germany, Friday, May 22, 2009. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was traveling Friday to Sri Lanka to discuss the conditions of nearly 300,000 ethnic Tamil civilians displaced by the war and to urge the government to work to heal the nation's ethnic divisions in the wake of the conflict, said his chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar.-AP photoMiseries for the economy are not over yet. People in Vanni were not regularly dependant on government welfare schemes, except for free education, free hospitals, free medicine and a free GS service. Time to time free food and free fertilizer were also supplied. However, in a country with over 4 million recipients of subsidies, Vanni was an exception. It is also true that Vanni people never paid direct taxes but that would have been a small amount. All this means the economic loss is multiplied.
The war has ended but defence expenditure will not fall as most of it is recurrent expenditure. Now we have a situation where very high defence expenditure, a huge IDP caring bill, another huge loss of economic activity and the cost of rebuilding and rehabilitation haunts the island nation. All these taken together can drown the country in the short term. Add to these woes, the IMF loan is delayed.
If the situation is not considered critical, the government is simply painting a rosy picture. This is the reason why the IDPs must be settled as soon as possible. It is so very urgent. There are direct benefits of it that pumps into the national economy. The Vanni economy was not meaningfully contributing to the national economy for over 20 years. Instead it developed into a sub-economy feeding the de facto state run by the LTTE. This is valued at US$250 million at the very least. When Vanni starts producing, the Sri Lankan economy gets an additional boost of US$250 million, every year, and growing! This will instantly make the GDP grow by about 0.5% a year at the start. This benefit must be obtained as soon as possible. It will be a blessing considering the global recession, an apt dividend for winning the war.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa smiles during a ceremony to honor the soldiers who fought to defeat Tamil Tiger rebels in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, May 22, 2009.-AP photoResettlement can take place in batches. IDPs came to government camps in batches. The early batches would have been fully screened for infiltrating terrorists by now and they must be resettled now. Armed forces had months to clear landmines, buried weapons, LTTE constructions, etc. and in most parts these clearing operations are concluding allowing resettlement. Lastly liberated areas had a very low number of settlers.
What is needed is not rushed resettlement but fast, planned resettlement without any undue delays. Life in overcrowded IDP camps is traumatic and this trauma must end for 350,000 Sri Lankan citizens as soon as possible. This does not mean LTTE cowards infiltrated into these camps need to be set-free. On the contrary, they should be identified and punished for their crimes.
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