On Board Special Aircraft, July 23 - External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday said Sri Lanka has assured India that it will start the process of building houses for over 300,000 Tamil civilians living in temporary camps after the ongoing demining operations in the island nation are completed.

'Demining operations are taking place. Once the demining is done, the building process will start,' Krishna told journalists while returning from the Thai resort Phuket.

He was responding to a question on his bilateral talks with Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on the sidelines of India-ASEAN ministerial meeting in Phuket Wednesday.

'We have come to an agreement that 300,000 unsettled Sri Lankan citizens of Tamil origin will be resettled. The process of resettling will be completed in 180 days,' Krishna said, while citing Colombo's reassurance about sticking to a six-month deadline for resettling Tamils displaced by the military conflict.