Mandapam Mandapam is a panchayat town in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The famed Pamban Railway bridge and Vehicular bridge lie to the East of this Panchayat Town. Mandapam is Tamil Nadu’s largest refugee camp for Sri La ...

Camp was built in the early 1900s by the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

to house migrant plantation workers coming to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

from

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The Camp is located in South India, 700 km South of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

(formerly known as

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

), the capital of the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. In the late 1970s the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

(also known as the Tamil Tigers) began an armed conflict with the Sri Lankan government. The clash peaked in the early 1980s and erupted into a full-scale civil war in 1983. Thousands were killed and many were displaced. Many

Tamils The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...

left

and sought refugee status in places like

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Those lacking money or family connections were left behind. With nowhere else to go, these people left

by boat from the northern town of

Mannar Mannar may refer to the following places: India * Mannar, Alappuzha, a town in Chengannur Taluk, Kerala Sri Lanka * Mannar District, one of 25 districts in Sri Lanka ** Mannar Island, an island within the district **Mannar Bridge, a bridge connect ...

, (18 km from the Indian coast) and arrived in

. The state government of

placed these people in camps across the state. Currently there are approximately 70,000 refugees living in these camps. A five-year peace agreement was signed in 2002. However, the conflict resumed in 2005 and by 2008 there were an estimated 4000 deaths.

Treatment of the Refugees

According to http://www.adeptasia.org/ upon their arrival in India, the refugees are taken to the police station, quarantined and interrogated for 72 hours, before being offered shelter at camps. At Mandapam camp, residents are given a small stipend and rations: adults are allotted 500g of rice per day, children 400g. Malnutrition is visible in the children. Mandapam is Tamil Nadu’s largest refugee camp for Sri Lankans in India.

References

External links

* http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/oct/22spec.htm * http://sangam.org/taraki/articles/2006/06-27_Refugees_Mandapam.php?uid=1806 * https://web.archive.org/web/20110707004510/http://ocha-gwapps1.unog.ch/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/AMMF-6RVJUP?OpenDocument * https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE4DE1231F937A15755C0A961948260 * https://web.archive.org/web/20071026130735/http://www.adeptasia.org/Publication/127/Mandapam%20Fact%20File.pdf {{Portal, India Refugee camps in India History of Tamil Nadu Social history of Tamil Nadu