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| Sunday, 20 March 2005 |
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Committee unearths suspicious UNF land deals by our staff correspondent Irregularities in land alienation during the UNP regime have come to light. The Committee appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers on the alienation of lands by statutory bodies during the period 1.1.2002 to 31.3.2004, has expressed its surprise and concern about the manner in which certain persons who were unaware of even the location of lands, had made applications accompanied by stereotype project proposals and had them successfully processed. The Committee has found irregularities committed by the Chairman and the officials of the Land Reform Commission in alienating lands. It said that none of the project proposals had been evaluated. The Minister, Chairman and the Executive Director had over ridden the powers of the Commission, in approving requests and given directions to proceed with applications. The Committee report further said that survey fees and advances on lease rentals had been decided by the Chairman on an adhoc basis allowing payments to be made even in instalments. Lands earmarked for specific purposes and even lands vested in other institutions had been leased out. The Commission had not been kept informed about the stages of alienation, even after the possession of lands had been handed over. The Committee had also recorded that nearly 1,160 acres of land had been alienated in a highly suspicious manner. It has observed that some of the lands identified for alienation in the districts of Ratnapura, Galle, Matara and Matale were bordering forest resources such as Sinharaja, Knuckles and Dediyagal-Nakiyadeniya. The Committee found 528 cases of land alienation took place between 1.1.2002 to 31.3.2004. According to the Committee, the LRC identified 7,880 acres of land to be leased out to 243 companies and individuals. Although the survey plans had been prepared in most cases, the LRC had handed over possession of approximately 2,674 acres to some of the applicants. The largest extent, identified for alienation were from Ratnapura, 1711 acres and Galle 1210 acres. The Committee noted that with the exception of requests from longstanding encroachers, tenant cultivators and requests for lands developed over a long period of time without knowing the proper boundaries, almost all other requests for agricultural lands had originated through some political pressure and influence. The report said the file pertaining to the transaction of Pilagoda Valley Estate, Ganewatte, was not traceable by the Committee. The 100 acre land was given with the approval of the minister to a company called Teko, which was not registered. The Committee has also found similar instances in several other transactions. |
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