India spends $4 mn on demining Lanka ops

India has spent four million $ on demining operations in Sri Lanka's North and East to facilitate resettlement of Tamil civilians displaced during the ethnic conflict which ended in May last year following the defeat of the LTTE.

The seven Indian demining teams in Sri Lanka are fully funded by New Delhi, an Indian High Commission release said today.

They have been deployed at a cost of Sri Lankan Rs 450 million, it said.

Indian High Commissioner Ashok K Kantha, accompanied by Maj Gen Atula Jayawardena, SF commander (Mullaitivu), recently visited the field camp of an Indian demining team at Oddusuddan and Kathaliyarsamalankulam Grama Niladhari divisions.

The camp is managed by Sarvatra Technical Consultants, an India-based demining organisation, which along with another Indian group Horizon Assignments runs all the seven demining teams in Sri Lanka.

The Indian teams have so far cleared an area of approximately 63,012,876 square metres in the districts of Vavuniya and Mannar, making them fit for habitation and resumption of cultivation and other economic activities.

In addition to these, the demining teams have been engaged in carrying out a non-technical survey in vast areas in Mullaitivu district in the Kokkilaim and in the Vavuniya district's Puliyankulam region.

This is to identify the exact areas that require demining, while releasing the balance areas for re-settlement.

During the field visit, the Indian High Commissioner was briefed about the work of the seven Indian teams, the progress registered in demining and future tasks and objectives assigned to the demining teams by Sri Lanka.

He was also briefed about the new and innovative methods used by the Indian teams and the high-risk exposure to the personnel deployed for such operations.