President distributes land deeds to 5,000
Dharma SRI ABEYRATNE
President Mahinda Rajapaksa presented deeds to 5,000 persons who did
not own any land, at a ceremony at Temple Trees yesterday, under the
Ranbima deeds distribution programme.
|
President Mahinda Rajapaksa presenting a land deed to one of
the 5,000 recipients of land under the Ranbima deeds
distribution programme at Temple Trees yesterday. Picture by
Sudath Silva |
Over 5,000 persons who had been selected countrywide became land
owners yesterday. The event was jointly organized by the Land
Reclamation Board and the Presidential Secretariat. These new land
owners had been living for a long time on government owned lands without
having land ownership or having a proper deed. The President wished
every success to the new land owners.
Addressing the gathering, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom
Party Maithripala Sirisena recalled the occasion when President Mahinda
Rajapaksa delivered his inaugural speech in 1971 proposing to grant
ownership to those who did not possess any land.
As a result of his suggestion Parliament took steps to distribute
government and private owned land under land reclamation. Thousands of
people were benefited while a few lost their excess land as a limitation
on private land ownerhsip was imposed.
The minister said that the people could become land owners since the
government under President Rajapaksa wiped out terrorism from Sri Lankan
soil.
"During the LTTE terror period, no one could be assured of their
lives let alone land ownership," he said. |
