Trending Now
- “Due to the Union Govt’s failure to properly plan for electricity shortages, Rajasthan is purchasing electricity at Rs.46 per unit.” – Explains Minister Nirmal Kumar on power procurement
- “Despite repeated warnings about the deteriorating law and order situation, the government remains indifferent. It must stop playing with people’s safety.” – DMK MP Kanimozhi
- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warns that AI and robotics could pose major challenges to employment opportunities over the next 20 years.
- Reports say Superstar Rajinikanth starrer ‘Jailer 2’ has crossed Rs.700 crore in worldwide box-office collections.
Coimbatore
Lankan Tamil refugees demand their passports back
September 7, 2015
Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, who had settled down in Coimbatore, have requested the district collector to take steps to return the passports and land documents that were provided to them by the Indian authorities.
During the internal conflict in Sri Lanka, many Tamilians from the island nation arrived in Tamil Nadu as refugees. While many returned home, some settled down in various places in Tamilnadu. More than 1000 such refugees who had arrived in 1983-84 live in Coimbatore. The district government issued free pattas and a loan of Rs.90,000 in 1991 for them to build houses in areas like Kalapatti, Sundarapuram, and Chinnavedampatty.
Residents of Anjukam Nagar today presented a petition to the District Collector Archana Patnaik to write off the loans, like the government had done for the previous batches of refugees. The petitioners claim that a number of such requests were given in the past, but the administration has not handed over the passports and land documents to them.
They add that as per the Right to Information Act, the government had ordered in 2011 that the documents be given to them. They urged the district administration to do the needful and return the passports and land documents to them.
