News
Hantana land distribution halted
BY CYRIL WIMALASURENDRE
KANDY –Central Province Governor Lalith U. Gamage has suspended the alienation of Hantana land as it will lead to huge environmental and water issues in the Kandy District.The Governor instructed officials present at a recent Kandy District Coordinating Committee to halt the distribution of land in the Hantana ara.
The Governor intervened following complaints made by several organisations that the authorities were planning to distribute 20 blocks of land owned by Hantana Janatha Estate Development Board (JEDB) to outsiders.
The Governor recalled that during a prolonged drought in 1993, the people of Kandy had depended on the Hantana springs to meet their water needs.
The Chairman, Kandy District Coordinating Committee (DCC), Gunatilaka Rajapakse MP, said that lands in Hantana should not be utilised without permission from the authorities concerned.
Among those present, at the meeting, were the Chairman, SLPP MP Professor Ranjith Bandara, M.P. Udayna Kiridigoda and Kandy District Secretary Chandana Tennakoon.
The Paddy Marketing Board has approximately 115,000 metric tonnes of paddy stocks purchased from farmers, which are currently stored in the Board’s warehouses, and it has been planned to retain a sufficient buffer stock from these reserves and sell the remaining quantity in order to provide the necessary storage space and financial resources for the purchase of paddy from farmers during the upcoming Yala season.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to sell the aforementioned paddy stocks
following a formal tender procedure.
The Promotion of Export Agriculture Act, No. 46 of 1992 provides the legal provisions for regulating and promoting the export agriculture sector in this country.
Taking into consideration administrative changes and sectoral developments that have taken place over time, approval was granted at the Cabinet Meetings held on 2023-09-04 and 2025-08-11 to amend the said Act, which has not been updated for over 30 years.
The proposed amendments are intended to amend the designations of the Head of the Department of Export Agriculture and other officials, and to provide a clearer definition of the term “the export agricultural crop.”
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation to publish in the Government Gazette the Draft Export Agriculture Promotion (Amendment) Bill, prepared in all three languages by the Legal Draftsman to amend the Export Agriculture Promotion Act, No. 46 of 1992, and thereafter submit the same to Parliament for its concurrence
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