Govt. to pay actual value of property acquired for development activities: Land Minister

 

Land Minister S.M. Chandrasena

The Government is to make the necessary legal amendments soon to pay the real value to the land owners when acquiring property for development activities.

This was revealed by Land Minister S.M. Chandrasena at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Lands and Land Development that he chaired this week.

He also said that there had been allegations from various parties that the compensation received for the acquisition of property was not sufficient.  Parliamentarian Chandima Weerakkody requested the Government to take over the land where the Gintota Plywood Corporation was located. He pointed out that attention should be paid to the development of lands available to the tourism industry and the process of obtaining relevant approvals should be made easier.

The Committee also paid special attention to the irregularities that had taken place in the issuance of land deeds to 800 persons in the Alakattukara area in Mannar.

The Land Commissioner General said that the process of allocating State lands to people with no land had been slowed down due to the COVID-19 situation and it was now regaining momentum.

The Committee also discussed the need to take immediate action to stop the forcible seizure of State lands, which is currently in progress.

It was disclosed at this meeting that the recruitment examination survey assistants would be held next week, with 1,500 expected to be recruited for this role.

State Minister Piyankara Jayaratne, Members of Parliament Shantha Bandara, Udayana Kirindigoda, S. Noharathalingam, Mayadunna Chinthaka Amal, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksha, Sudath Manjula, Ajith Rajapakse, Gunathilaka Rajapaksha, K. Kader Masthan, Weerasumana Weerasinghe and Sudarshana Denipitiya and Government officials were present at the meeting.