MONLAR complains of another project to help govt. cronies

By Rathindra Kuruwita

The government was planning to distribute 70 to 350 acres of land that belonged to the Land Reform Commission among political henchmen, Chinthaka Rajapakshe, Moderator of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR) alleged yesterday.

Rajapakshe told The Island that the Cabinet had on 07 June approved a proposal submitted by Minister of Lands, S. M. Chandrasena to start 35 compost making projects in 25 Divisional Secretariat areas in the North Western Province.

“Some businessmen will be given two to 10 acres of LRC lands besides Rs. 20 million each for the projects. This money too will come from an LRC fund to the tune of Rs. 2 billion and the interest from this fund is used to pay the salaries of workers. The proposal doesn’t really say how they will recover the loans,” he said.

MONLAR moderator said that the Minister had been authorised to appoint a committee to decide on lands to be given and select businessmen for the projects. Given that the sole authority lies with the Minister, political henchmen are likely to be selected, he said.

“We think that the initiative should be farmer-led. The project also needs to integrate animal husbandry. There should also be a mechanism to ensure that the lands will be used sustainably. The government must also decide what to do with these lands after the project ends. None of these have been thought of. So it is obvious that this is a scheme to please political henchmen,” Rajapakshe alleged.

Minister Chandrasena was not immediately available for comment.