Namal Rajapaksa demands 10 acres of Ilmenite-rich land in Kokku'laay

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 February 2012, 23:48 GMT]
SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's son Namal Rajapaksa, has been recently demanding the Village Officer of Kokku'laay in Mullaiththeevu district, to hand over to him 10 acres of land belonging to Tamils to construct a mineral separation plant near the river mouth in Kokku'laay in Mullaiththeevu district, informed civil sources in Mullaiththeevu district told TamilNet. Mr. Namal Rajapaksa was prepared to give any amount to acquire the lands.

The sands in the area contain ilmenite and rutile, raw materials for manufacturing Titanium Dioxide.

Already, a large area of land has been taken over and is divided into 60 pieces of quarter acres each and the land pieces have been fenced.

1,500 acres of lands belonging to Tamils have been illegally occupied carving out a Sinhala Regional Division, called Weli Oya (Ma'nal Aa'ru).

In 1984, there were only 11 Sinhala families residing in Kokku'laay, when Tamils were chased out from Kokku'laay. Later, 36 Sinhala families were having permanent address in the area.

Now, there are more than 500 Sinhala families in the area. A school has been constructed for the Sinhala colonists. A medical centre is also functioning two days in a week serving the Sinhala colonists, who have taken over the lands that belonged to Tamils.

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