State land given to the affluent

by Anura Maitipe

State land valued at Rs 150 million belonging to the National Housing Development Authority (NHDA) in Pallekale Gam Udawa grounds has been distributed among affluent people on the pretext of allocating them for landless people in the area, a spokesman for the Presidential Investigation Unit (PIU) told the Sunday Observer.

This land has been released by the NHDA to "The Vijaya Nivasa Cooperative Society", a society formed under the Vijaya Kumaratunga Memorial Foundation to help landless people in the area, he said.

Investigations conducted by the PIU have revealed that the beneficiaries of these lands were some university lecturers, lawyers, doctors, administrative officers, education directors and a foreigner.

The recipients of these lands have submitted an affidavit to the NHDA stating that they do not have land or sufficient income to purchase a block of land to build a house, he said.

A block of land has been offered to a foreigner who lived in Australia. He too submitted an affidavit by saying "I have no land or sufficient income to purchase a block of land, therefore, I urge you to allocate me a block of land from the reserved land in Pallekale for landless people.