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| Sunday, 27 March 2005 |
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Politics |
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News Business Features
Editorial
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Committee debunks UNF 'land for landless' claim by a special correspondent The United National Front (UNF) Government's Lands Minister Rajitha Senaratne and Plantation Industries Minister Lakshman Kiriella then often lamented that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga stood in the way of the UNF program of allocating land to the landless. Their refrain was reflected in the following statements: "When we wanted to alienate the land, the President did not allow us". "We initiated plans to allocate lands among landless, but the President did not permit us to do so." "Our government does not resort to malpractice. That is why people believe what we say. But some were attempting to destroy that trust." Subsequent events and revelations justify President Kumaratunga's stand in not favouring such a program supposedly to allocate land to landless. That these lands were not really distributed among the landless is borne out by reports submitted by committees that were appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers to investigate land alienation between 01.01.2002 and 31.03.2004. The Janatha Estates Development Board (JEDB) had leased out lands to 14 applicants without following tender procedures. There was no transparency when the applications were selected. According to established procedures, permission should be sought from the Ministry of Plantation Industries before finalising the lease and it is also compulsory to call for tenders to sell or lease out land which belonged to statutory bodies. Though the JEDB is a Statutory Board, it had functioned as a private institution. In the Galle District, 47 acres of Walahanduwa estate was sold for Rs. 20 million to one Pushpakumara Hemanda of Pamankade Hardware Stores, Colombo 5, without calling for tenders and without valuation. The relevant file contains unregistered documents without the names of witnesses. The Sri Lanka State Plantation Corporation had entered into an agreement with Jasons Properties Development (Pvt) Ltd., and Jasons and British Overseas (Pvt) Ltd., on projects of land development. This agreement had been made violating the tender procedures. The land required for the purpose acquired and handed over to SLSPC to construct the headquarters of the corporation, and the relevant transaction was a huge loss to the State. In Matale, 571.261 hectares of land in Gammaduwa was leased out to Gammaduwa Plantations Limited, without the ministry approval.A company named Durand had won the bid, but the lease was given over to Gammaduwa Plantations. 976. hectares of land in Harepark were allocated to Hunnastar Green Garden's Ltd., on the basis of the highest bid but withdrawn later. Maruthi Estates (Pvt) Ltd., was granted 1,450 hectares of land from Viyatalawa and Woodside estate without the ministry approval. 364.34 hectares in Montecristo estate in Nawalapitiya was leased out to Central Hills (Pvt) ltd. for 50 years. Gurukoya tea factory in Kandy had been leased on the second highest bid to W.P. Perera. Tembiligala tea factory had been given to Chairman, Kandurata Plantation Company for 30 years without following tender procedures. 85 acres of Kudadola Estate had been leased out to one Marshal Fernando for 30 years, at the rate of Rs.76 per annum per acre of land. 47 acres at Walahanduwa estate was leased out to a three-member family and another person. The Committee Report said the Land Reform Commission had allocated over 2,674 acres of land without survey plans. It said that superceding the powers of the Commission, the Minister, Chairman, and at times, even the Executive Director, had approved requests and given directions to proceed with such applications. Survey fees and advances on lease rentals had been decided by the Chairman on an ad hoc basis allowing payments to be made even in instalments. The Committee had reported the following alienation of land which were of a highly suspicious nature: 98 acres of Mutuwana, Haputale to P. Radhakrishnan, Greenrich Plantations (Pvt) Ltd. 39 acres from Westhall Estate, Nuwara Eliya to P.S. Hemachandra. 660 acres of Pilagoda Valley Estate, Baddegama to Berns Trading (Pvt) Ltd. Although the LRC had leased out this land to this company, it is a property vested in the SLSPC by Gazette notification Extraordinary No.195/06 dated 31st May 1982. The Chairman had allowed the company to pay the lease rental in 10 instalments. 50 acres each from Pahalaturulagalle Estate to Jayantha Kumara Ranawaka, Agrarian Services Road, Deniyaya and P.S.K. Gunawardene, 51 Junction, Deniyaya. 114 acres and 119 acres from Pethiyakande Estate, Minuwangoda to Odapitiya farm (Pvt) Ltd., Gampaha and Ranhilyaya farm (Pvt) Ltd., Kurunduwatte, Tihariya, Kalagedihena. 25 acres from Randunukele, Weerawila, Hambantota, to N.G.S.M. Wijeratne, Pagoda, Nugegoda and 50 acres from Moratukande, Dambadeniya top Grotex Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. Veyangoda. The Committee had reported that the largest extent of land identified for alienation were from Ratnapura and Galle districts comprising 1711 acres and 120 acres respectively. The report also said that some of the land identified for alienation in these two districts and Matara and Matale, were bordering forest reserves such as Sinharaja, Knuckles.
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