SL minister hands over appropriated public lands in Mannaar to southern companies

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 February 2013, 23:52 GMT]
Several acres of state lands in Mannaar district are being distributed to private sector establishments of the South on the ‘recommendations’ of a Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister Rishard Badurdeen with false deeds, while thousands of people residing in the district are languishing without lands for their existence, especially in Mannaar DS division, civil officials in Mannaar told TamilNet.

On Tuesday afternoon a group of agents of so-called multinational companies based in Colombo, accompanied by the controversial SL minister, had inspected several acres of public lands lying between Thiruketheesvaram Junction and Thirunavat-ku’lam (Mu’l’likku’lam) Junction along the Mannaar-Mathawaachchi main road.

A conglomerate corporate establishment in the South, Chemical Industries (Colombo) Limited, which is better known as CIC, had already started preliminary works to establish a rice mill in Mannaar.

The CIC has taken steps to construct the rice mill with the backing of the SL minister and the Northern Provincial Governor Maj Gen (retd) Chandrasiri.

Even though the public sector departments have authority to construct buildings in public lands for their use, the private sector establishments have no authority to establish their factories and other projects in state lands. The Divisional Secretary is the sole authority for administering public lands.

However civil sources noted that the SL minister, through his brothers and supporters, grab public lands through false deeds and hand over to private business establishments located in Colombo.