To prevent Mahaweli lands from being misused, MP Rohini Kumari Wijeratne has asked the President to hold off on giving the appropriate divisional secretaries control over Mahaweli lands and residual forest holdings.
She has requested that the remaining forest lands be placed under the Divisional Forest Officers of the Department of Forest Conservation and Mahaweli land under the relevant resident managers, saying that the Divisional Secretaries are prone to misusing the lands.
“When the divisional secretaries have the power to distribute land, the remaining forests are given to their cronies.” For example, in Galewala Moragolla Gramaseva Division, 30 acres have been taken by an SLPP MP by bribing relevant officials.
Expressing her concern over the distribution of land in the Laggala and Polonnaruwa areas, she said that land should be given to the displaced people who lost their land due to the Moragahakanda reservoir on a priority basis before allocating land for the friends of the bureaucrats.
“The minister also threatened me outside.” I want to tell you that we have clashed with people who are too different from you. “I will not allow the rights of the people of Laggala and Matale to be sacrificed to fulfil the dreams of the ministers of Polonnaruwa.”
She went on to say that there are a lot of land grabs in Mahaweli areas and that information about them will be included in the Mahaweli budget head.
