Reference our front-page story ‘Japan refuses funds for mine clearing’ on July 5, K. Godage, of MMIPE de-mining project said;

“I was shocked and perturbed over the news item.

It is riddled with inaccuracies. It unfortunately is also most damaging.

The reporter, without naming her sources had stated that the “MMIPE had sought a sum of US$ 4.350 million from the Japanese. The reporter should have verified this statement from the MMIPE. The reporter has compounded the unfounded statement by also stating that the “MMIPE had sought US$ 15,000 for itself, US$ 1.82 million for ‘Sarvatra’ and US $ 1.71 million for ‘Horizon”. This can only be described as a damned lie. (The entirety of Japanese aid to de-mining amounts to US$ 2.4 million according to the Embassy). It could well be that this diabolical falsehood has been deliberately planted on this unsuspecting naive reporter to malign the MMIPE and India. The only request made of the Japanese Embassy for grant assistance under their programme to assist “Grassroots Human Security Projects” to obtain the same de-mining equipment as has been gifted to the two foreign NGOO, the Halo Trust and MAG. We even suggested that if they had difficulty in granting us that type of equipment, then we would accept the cheaper Indian made Excavator and Crusher, which costs far less than the equipment gifted to the foreign NGOO. These pieces of equipment are needed to expedite our work

As for the de-mining in accordance with international mining standards, the UNDP has certified that the two Indian NGOO have indeed complied with such standards. The UNDP representative Ms. Leoni Barnes who has been most helpful to the de-mining teams would bear testimony to this. The land cleared has not only been reoccupied by IDPs but the IDPs have resumed their normal livelihoods and resumed cultivation of rice and other crops. Had the two Indian NGOO not conformed to International Mine Action Standards they would not have been allocated new areas after they completed the first tasks allotted to them. The two Indian NGOO have also built local capacity and the request for Japanese assistance was to expand the de-mining into new areas to enable more IDPs to be resettled. The MMIPE is thankful for the assistance it has received from the government of Norway which sought not only to assist with the expeditious de-mining of the North and East but to also use the opportunity to promote Indo-Lanka relations through de-mining