Wed, Oct 19, 2011, 07:38 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 19, Colombo: Sri Lanka's major Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is to take up issues related to lands in the North for debate in parliament on Friday (21).The TNA has stated that the government has failed to provide a satisfactory response to the Northern land issue.
TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran has said the matter would be taken up for debate on Friday. TNA would also decide on the future actions on the matter following the debate, he has added.
The TNA has staged a protest in Vavuniya on Monday against the government's programme to re-register the lands in the North and the East.
The Minister of Lands and Land Development Janaka Bandara Tennakoon said the protest organized by the TNA in Vavuniya issues claimed by TNA regarding property in the North were totally unacceptable.
Addressing a press conference the Minister said that the government had launched a comprehensive mechanism to solve the land issues of the people in the North who had suffered due to decades of war.
Under the government's 'Bim Saviya' National Land Title Registration Programme, all lands in the island are surveyed demarcated, ensured ownership and issued a Title Certificate, free of charge. The land owners are required to provide accurate information and hand it over to the Grama Niladhari of the respective Divisional Secretariat by November 20.
The Tamil party however, accuses the government of land grabbing to promote Sinhala colonization.
The Minister said that the Tamil party is conducting protests without knowing all the facts. The government would never solve these land issues in a way that would inconvenience the public, he added.
