(UTV|COLOMBO) – The release of Military acquired lands in the North and East has been accelerated following the establishment of the Special Task force for the development of North and East Province.
This was stated by the Security Forces at the meeting of the Presidential Task Force for the Development of the North and East on Thursday (04) chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena. The Task Force was established in August last year by the President to expedite the development of the North and the East that suffered during the long drawn conflict.
After the establishment of the Task Force, 6,951 acres of land in the two Provinces have been released with support of all parties including the Governors of the Northern and Eastern Provinces, and another 475 acres of land will be released in the near future.
The Presidential Task force for the development of the North and East was met on Wednesday (03) afternoon at the Parliamentary premises chaired by the President.
In this meeting, attention was focused on the issues and suggestions presented by Political Representatives of the areas in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
The President also instructed the two Governors of the two Provinces to intervene in the matter and discuss the issue with the Military Authorities to expedite the issues. He instructed the relevant Officials to submit all future issues to the meeting if there are issues beyond their control.
At the end of the humanitarian operation in 2009, nearly 84,675 acres of land in the North and the East remained with the security forces. The clearance of lands of by de-mining process was accelerated after President assumed office in January 2015 with the total land area of 84,675 acres at present, 71,178 acres has been released.
Accordingly, 13,497 acres of land is in the custody of the security forces, of which 11,039 acres of land are state owned lands. A further 475 acres of land will be released in the coming days. Accordingly, the State lands in the North and East which were in the custody of the Security Forces (81%) and the private lands belonging to the private sector (90%) have been released. The President also instructed the Officials to release the rest of the lands in an accelerated manner and to expedite the payment of compensation.
The Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sampandan and Political Representatives, Governor of the Northern Province Dr. Suren Raghavan, Governor of the Eastern Province M. L. A. M. Hissbulla, Secretary to the President Udaya R. Senevirathne and the State Officials, three Commanders of the Army forces and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) were also present at this meeting.
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