President Ranil Wickramasinghe assured that the government will give Urumaya land deeds to all who are eligible to receive and confirm the land ownership in the next two months.
The President mentioned this while addressing the ceremony held at Ambilipitiya Mahaweli Stadium this morning (17) for the awarding of freehold land deeds to 1524 out of 45,253 eligible colonists of the Mahaweli Walawa region under the national program of providing 20 lakh “Heritage” freehold land deeds.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe who addressed the ceremony further said:
I have given instructions to all those who can give Urumaya freehold land deeds to give land rights within the next two months. The District Secretaries Land Commissioner General, and all of the surveyor’s offices have planned to go to the village to implement a program to speed up the delivery of these land deeds. For that, the contribution of government officials at the grassroots level of the village can be obtained. Through such an arrangement, we get the opportunity to implement this program very efficiently.
In the past 75 years, the people of this country have been given land, but free land rights have not been given. We implemented the Urumaya program to give the people the legal right to land. This can also be called a kind of revolution.
We have faced a very difficult time as a country. Everyone suffered. The loss was shared. If so, when the country’s economy has reached a good level, everyone should have a profit. We aim to achieve the same benefit, especially for the farmers who supply rice to this country.
These free land rights are given to the farmers and we are also working to give housing rights to the two hundred and fifty thousand low-income people living in the flats in Colombo.
Through this program, rights are given to the people. The people of this country should own land, a house, or a vehicle. 1944 State Council C.W.W. Mr. Kannangara shared knowledge through free education. The current government is working to provide both knowledge and rights to the people.
Farmers in this area are growing and getting a harvest. But they don’t own the land. They cannot go to the bank and get a loan. Not one generation but three generations faced this problem. The government decided that these people could not be allowed to suffer any longer. Accordingly, the Urumaya program was implemented and it is also a thank you to the farming people of this country.
When we took over the government, the country did not have electricity, fuel, and medicines were not available and the people suffered. To get out of this situation, we have to increase the country’s production first. We have increased rice production in the 2022 and 2023 Yala seasons. The farmers gave us strength for that. The government arranged to provide them with fertilizers and other facilities.
The program we implement for the farmers does not end here. Just giving them land is not enough.
To eliminate rural poverty, an agricultural revolution must be carried out. We have implemented the agricultural modernization program for that. This gives the people the opportunity to increase their income along with owning the land.
All of you should become partners in that program. We hope to start the program by next year by providing the necessary money promptly. The government has planned to restructure and bring forward the agricultural service centers there. I offer my thanks for the service rendered to the country by the farmers of this area for 03 generations without land rights.
