Nearly 6000 IDPs are kept in Pulmodai camps and hospitals

A mother whose son has been kept in a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) said she was allowed, for the first time, to visit her son by the authorities, last week.

The mother, who is also an IDP from Trincomalee in the early stages of the conflict, said it took nearly three days for her return trip from Batticaloa.

“It is very difficult to travel to the camps. There is only one bus that travels from Trincomalee to Pulmodai. It takes about a day. Then you have travel about 3km by a three wheeler taxi,” she said.

'Only 10 minutes'

She was only given about 10 minutes to speak with the son after such a difficult journey, she said.

Nearly 6000 displaced people are estimated to be in camps and hospitals in Pulmodai. While some of those have arrived at the last stages of war, there are some others who have been there for years.

The life is very difficult in the camps. Not enough food is given. But I don’t know who to contact as ICRC has also left from the region   Mother of an IDP in Pulmodai

The mother, who is currently staying in an IDP camp in Batticaloa, accused the media and authorities of only focusing on IDP camps in Vavuniya.

“Thousands of IDPs are kept in Pulmodai camps but the foreign delegates only visit Vavuniya camps. I never heard that anybody visited camps in Pulmodai,” she told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya.

She added that people from Vavuniya, Jaffna and other places were among the first group to be allowed the relatives in the camps.

She has been turned away, a few times, by the authorities on the way to the camp.

Members of some families are separated into camps in Vavuniya and Pulmodai, according to the mother.

“The life is very difficult in the camps. Not enough food is given. But I don’t know who to contact as ICRC has also left from the region.”