Bringing arable lands under the plough - President’s aim

by P. Krishnaswamy

In keeping with his development-oriented goals, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is keen to ensure that all arable lands in the country are brought under the plough including the large extent of lands in the plantations that need replanting.

It is in this context that he told Parliament, during the Budget speech, that all idle lands in the plantations will be taken over by the Government and distributed to tea/rubber smallholder if replanting is not done within six months, said Deputy Minister of Economic Development and President of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) Muthu Sivalingam.

Plantation estates were given to Plantation Management Companies on a 53-year lease and the President, if he so desires, could re-vest any of these State lands immediately. It is because he is more concerned about the proper use of these lands that he has given six months for re-planting, Sivalingam said.

Over 65,000 acres of cultivable lands remain unused while thousand of youths are unemployed, he said.