Sri Lanka has chalked out plans to release and resettle at least a hundred thousand of the 2.5 lakh war displaced, currently housed in government run transitional camps in the north, by mid October.In an exclusive telephone interview with AIR/DD, Major General Kamal Gunaratne, the Competent Authority for the Internally Displaced Persons) said that steps are being taken to send at least 45000 residents of Jaffna and some 5000 people of the Eastern Province to their original places of habitation in the coming days. The process has started and one batch of 4000 displaced Tamil civilians has already been sent to Jaffna and another 3000 to the Eastern Province yesterday. IDPs from Mannar and Vavuniya have also been identified and the resettlements of these IDPs are also taking simultaneously, he said.Gen. Gunaratne said that 3,500 pregnant mothers have also been permitted to leave the camps if their family members or relatives or friends could take responsibility for their shelter. The custody of the disabled and the mentally retarded people are being given to their relatives while elderly in the camps are being allowed to leave the camps with their children. He said that the screening process is being done very carefully and was confident that the target of resettling the bulk of the IDPs would be achieved within the given 180-day time frame.For the remaining of the IDPs in the camp, he said that contingency plans for the monsoon have been drawn up and the likely affected IDP population will be shifted to schools and other government buildings.