Millions 'homeless' in Sri Lanka
Over one million families in Sri Lanka are homeless, a leading opposition parliamentarian has said.
Sajith Premadasa, the son of former President R Premadasa, also accused the government of trying to recollect loans –which was annulled by his father’s government - from poor house owners. “This government is so bankrupt that it is even struggling to pay salaries of Housing Development Authority workers,” the United National Party MP told journalists in Colombo. President Premadasa launched a special programme to build a million homes for the poor. The initiative has offered a roof to many poor homeless families but there hasn’t been a similar larger scale house building programme since then. Sajith Premadasa, MP, adds that 11,000 families who lost their homes in devastating Asian tsunami are still living in refugee camps. He also accused the government of having no proper initiative to build houses for the war displaced (IDPs) in the north and the east. The Indian government, Mr. Premadasa said, is offering money to NGOs to build houses for the IDPs, as a result.