Hon. Minister SM Chandrasena, Chairman of the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Lands & Land Development, said that the necessary legal amendments will be made soon to pay the real value to the land owners when acquiring property for development activities.

He Minister also stated that there are allegations from various parties that the compensation received for the acquisition of the property is not sufficient. He stated the aforesaid at the Committee meeting held on yesterday (09).

Hon. Parliamentarian Chandima Weerakkody requested the Government to take over the land where the Gintota Plywood Corporation was located. He pointed out that attention should be paid to the development of lands available to the tourism industry and the process of obtaining relevant approvals should be made easier.

The Committee also paid special attention to the irregularities that have taken place in the issuance of land deeds to 800 persons in the Alakattukara area in Mannar.

The Land Commissioner General said that the process of allocating government lands to people with no land had slowed down due to the COVID-19 situation and that the it was now regaining its momentum.

The Committee also discussed the need to take immediate action to stop the forcible seizure of state lands, which is currently in progress.

It was disclosed at this meeting that the recruitment examination for the post of Survey Assistant will be held next week. It is expected to recruit 1500 persons for those posts.

Hon. State Minister Piyankara Jayaratne, Hon. Members of Parliament Shantha Bandara, Udayana Kirindigoda, S. Noharathalingam, Mayadunna Chinthaka Amal, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksha, Sudath Manjula, Ajith Rajapakse, Gunathilaka Rajapaksha, K. Kader Masthan, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, Sudarshana Denipitiya and Government officials were present at this meeting held.