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by Rashomi Silva

The 'Citizenship Act' to enact citizenship to over 160,000 Stateless persons in the estate sector will be presented in Parliament mid next month, Housing and Plantation Infrastructure Minister A. Thondaman said at a media briefing held in his Ministry yesterday.

"We hope to present the 'Citizenship Act' in Parliament by mid August. With the legislation of the Act the entire population in the plantations can be considered as citizens of this country," he said.

The Minister said that the Bill was presented in the Cabinet last week and approved. The Bill will get the support of all political parties represented in the Parliament.

Speaking on measures taken to improve the living conditions of estate workers, the Minister said several resettlement plans have been drawn up to resettle estate workers in 'decent' housing schemes instead of linerooms.

"We hope to resettle them in housing projects like 'Thirasarapura' where each family will be given a house in an apartment block with better facilities such as water and electricity."

Commenting on the present state of the Building Materials Corporation, (BMC), Thondaman said: "The BMC is running at a loss and at present it is overstaffed with 1,100 employees and has debts of over Rs. 600 million.

Meanwhile, responding to a querry by a reporter, the Minister said he had a discussion with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga recently at President's House when she met two female entrepreneurs from Andra Pradesh who visited Sri Lanka on his invitation.

Nuwara Eliya District MP, R. Yogarajan, Housing Ministry officials and Former BMC Chairman Maj. Gen. Sarath Munasinghe were present.

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