Government has no plans for new district in East

COLOMBO: Cabinet Spokesman Anura Priyadarshana Yapa yesterday said the Government has no intention of carving out a new district comprising of parts of some districts in the eastern and northern provinces.

He dismissed the reports published in Tamil dailies Sudar Oli and Virakesari stating that the Government will be establishing a new district in-between Batticaloa and Mulaithivu districts to make it a Sinhala colony as a baseless and fabricated report.

Addressing the weekly media briefing, the Minister of Mass Media and Information stated that the Government is keen on reconstruction and rehabilitation of the East and preserve the cultural heritages in the area.

"It is incorrect to say that the government is attempting to colonize the East with Sinhalese," he said and described the report as a mischievous and false.

The Minister stated that the Government is strongly denying these reports. "I have also spoken to the Secretary of the relevant Ministry and he has also denied any such programme."

He added that even the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan referred to this in Parliament and Home Affairs and Public Administration Minister Karu Jayasuriya denied any such colonisation programme.