Another group of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees return home from Tamil Nadu

A group of 55 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who were living in various camps in Tamil Nadu state of India, returned home on Tuesday 25 years after they fled the island under the voluntary repatriation program of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The refugees had fled the island from Mannar by boats to South India during the war.

The group of 55 refugees belonging to 19 families included 22 women and 12 children. They have departed to their original places of abode in the North and East.

Up to September this year 1,986 Sri Lankans who lived in various refugee camps in Tamil Nadu have returned to the island and more are expected to return in the next three months, according to the Sri Lankan mission in Chennai.

The UNHCR has been assisting the voluntary repatriation of Sri Lankan refugees. The agency provides free air tickets, reintegration allowance of $ 75 per person, transport allowance $ 19 per person and monetary non-food grant of $ 75 per family.