THE government has undertaken a comprehensive and speedy survey of lands in the North to resettle people and sort out problems relating to ownership, Government sources said yesterday.
Minister of Lands and Land Development Jeevan Kumaratunga told The Island that on the advice of President Mahinda Rajapaksa priority will be given to the distribution of agricultural land, among farmers and the promotion of organic farming.
The President believed that this would increase economic benefits for the Jaffna farmers by way of lucrative prices for their organic produce, which is easily marketable to health conscious consumers worldwide, the Minister said..
Kumaratunga said that such a survey had not been carried out for several decades and with the demographic features changed the old maps needed redrawing.
A draft of the proposal to survey the lands in the North, with certain other amendments to the Lands Act, had been cleared by the Cabinet of Ministers, AGs and Legal Draftsman’s Department and would be presented before the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils and thereafter to Parliament shortly, he said.
Once this survey was carried out the public need not stand in long queues before the respective Divisional Secretariats to obtain copies or clear any problems relating to their ownership, the Minister said.
All State lands would be identified and majority of them set aside for distribution among the landless members of the farming community in the North to promote organic agriculture and livestock farming, the Minister said. (Courtesy: The Island)
