Laws to confiscate illegally reclaimed paddy lands

Uditha Kumarasinghe

COLOMBO: The Agrarian Services and Farmer Community Development Ministry is formulating new laws to confiscate all fallow paddy lands which have been reclaimed illegally.

The Ministry is formulating a draft bill to amend the Agrarian Development Act Year 2000 No.46 to be presented in Parliament shortly. This law will have retrospective effect, Agrarian Services and Farmer Community Development Minister S.M. Chandrasena told the Daily News.

According to the Minister section 32(8) of the Agrarian Development Act recommends a Rs.100,000 fine or six months imprisonment for an unauthorised reclamation of a paddy field.

It has been revealed that this fine is not adequate for illegal reclamation of a paddy land. Therefore the Ministry has decided to amend the Agrarian Development Act to recommend stern action to confiscate paddy lands reclaimed in an illegal manner, the Minister said.

According to statistics, the number of unauthorised paddy lands reclaimed in the Colombo district alone exceeds 10,000 acres. Following a court decision, action was taken to remove the dug earth from a reclaimed paddy land in the Kesbewa Agrarian service division. he said.

Minister Chandrasena said some Agrarian Service officers together with certain businessmen were engaged in a large scale racket to reclaim fallow paddy lands and later sell them. The reclamation of fallow paddy lands, has led to floods in the Colombo district. The intention of the Government is to re-cultivate fallow paddy lands and not to reclaim them.