Govt. releases more paddy lands to displaced families in Mullaitivu

Thursday, 10 April 2014 01:43 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Government has handed over nearly 100 acres of paddy lands that were occupied by the security forces to the resettled families in the north. The authorities have released 98 acres of paddy lands in Vellamullivaikkal East in the Mullaitivu District, previously used by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), to 29 resettled IDP families for cultivation. The lands were handed back in the presence of the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development Gotabaya Rajapaksa. During the war, these lands had been used as runways for their aircraft operated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the military said. According to the Army Directorate of Media approximately 4,000 acres of land that falls within the SLAF perimeter and 518 acres of those had been released for farming by 2013. The issue of lands still being occupied by Sri Lankan security forces has gained international attention as the Tamil people in the north have demanded that the Government release their lands. Since the end of the war in May 2009, the Government is gradually releasing the land to their legitimate owners and establishing the ownership.