Sri Lanka on Saturday said it will allow freedom of movement to a “great extent” to tens of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians currently lodged in refugee camps.

“We will allow freedom of movement of the people to a great extent,” senior presidential advisor Basil Rajapaksa said at the Manik Farm complex in Vavuniya in northern Lanka.

Some 1.36 lakh people are currently living in the camps in northern Lanka, down from over 2.90 lakh in May, when curtains came down on the 30-year-old civil war in the country.

Basil Rajapaksa, expressed hope that the entire resettlement process of the displaced Tamil civilians will be completed according to schedule by January 31, 2010.

The move comes amid calls from several countries, including the US, to release tens of thousands of civilians held in the camps. With the number of civilians moving to their towns and villages in the former LTTE bastion of Kilinochchi, Mullaittivu and Mannar, authorities have put the medical units on alert due to threat of diseases following heavy rains in the region.

As heavy rains lashed northern Lanka, Governor G A Chandrasiri has asked officials of the Department of Health to take steps in this regard. He has asked them to commence a special health programme for the prevention of malaria and dengue in the resettled areas.

“The nursing and other staff of the hospitals of Mannar, Adampan and Thiruketheeswaram would be provided bicycles. To control the spread of diseases it is necessary that mobile health services be provided in these areas,” he said.

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