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Ceremony to mark Kobbekaduwa's 19th death anniversary

The 19th death anniversary of Agriculture and Lands Minister Hector Kobbekaduwa falls today. A commemoration ceremony will be held today at 3 pm at the Pilimatalawa Maha Vidyalaya under the patronage of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

President Kumaratunga in a message to mark the occasion, said Kobbekaduwa who was a lawyer and a landed proprietor was a true son of Sri Lanka who witnessed the hardships rural people had to undergo due to the lack of basic needs. He longed to restore to the local people their land robbed by the imperialists through the Waste Lands Ordinance.

He entered politics through local government elections and later became the Agriculture and Lands minister of the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government in 1970. During his term as a minister, Kobbekaduwa took steps to restructure the agriculture sector and provided infrastructure facilities to farmers, the President said. She said, he also pioneered the implementation of the Govijana Seva Ordinance to upgrade farmers' living conditions and presented the Land Reform Law to ensure the proper use of land amidst protests.

Even after losing the 1977 general election Kobbekaduwa carried forward his policies and was able to gain 30,000 more votes from the Northern region than the first Executive President of Sri Lanka which further exemplifies his immense service to agriculture.

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