Lankan Govt. settling Sinhalese in Tamil-dominated areas: Activist

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced construction of 10,000 houses for Tamils in Sri Lanka, noted Tamil activist Pazha Nedumaran on Saturday said that there were already 4000 houses built, but the government in Colombo has been settling Sinhalese people in those colonies.

"Already 4000 houses have been built in Tamil areas. They are supposed to be given to the Tamils in Sri Lanka, but the Singhalese government allocated these houses to Sinhalese. They were settled at Tamil areas with the help of Indian government. The problem is that Sinhalese wanted to annihilate Tamils," Nedumaran told ANI.

He alleged that local people were being settled in Tamil areas with the help of the Sri Lankan Army.

Addressing a gathering of around 30,000 Indian origin Tamils in Norwood, Prime Minister Modi announced the construction of 10,000 more houses under the Indian Housing Project in Sri Lanka.

He also announced a series of sops for the Sri Lankans like setting up of vocational training centres, ten engineering training centres and labs to impart suitable skills, computer and science labs in plantation schools.