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Hakeem urges govt to resettle farmers who lost lands

Minister of Port Development, Shipping, Eastern Development and Muslim Religious Affairs Rauf Hakeem has urged the government to allocate the identified lands to all farmers who lost their lands due to the declaration of Digawapi Sacred Temple premises. Addressing a letter to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the Minister states that declaration of Digawapi Temple Sacred Area in 1982 has compelled 150 Muslim farmers to vacate from their lands, a ministry press release stated.

These lands were acquired by the state without any notice to the farmers who were subsequently forced out of their lands. The permits in respect of these lands were cancelled forthwith and instead new permits were issued to settlers from the Sinhalese community.

The late leader of the SLMC M.H.M. Ashraff brought this matter to the notice of the President when Ashraff was a Minister in 1996, and subsequently action was taken to allocate alternate lands to those Muslim farmers from Digawapi outside the Scared Temple area.

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