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Govt. placing Mahaweli lands under Divisional Secretaries: SLPP rebels see sinister move

Published

3 years ago

2022/11/17

By Saman Indrajith

Budget 2023 has sought to deprive the farming community of their land rights by placing the Mahaweli lands under the purview of Divisional and District Secretaries, SLPP dissident MP Prof. Channa Jayasumana says.

“This proposal will take away the farmers’ rights to land. Farmers of Mahaweli lands in 15 districts and their children, will be affected by this move,” Prof Jayasumana said, participating in the debate on Budget 2023.

He said Mahaweli Project encompased 39 percent of the country’s landmass and 55 percent of the lands of the dry zone.

Proposal No: 13 says: “Although preliminary activities related to the disposal of government lands are carried out by District Secretaries/Government Agents through Divisional Secretaries/Additional Government Agents, at a later stage such duties were also allocated to Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority and the Land Reform Commission which were established for special requirements. It is reported that there are occurrences of discrimination and malpractice as preliminary activities related to disposal of lands are done in various ways by the respective entities. Therefore, as the aforementioned special requirements have already been met, a programme will be prepared during the next year to enable preliminary activities in relation to the disposal of all government lands, including the disposal of lands under the above two institutions, only by the Divisional Secretaries.’

This will enable the government politicians and their cronies to grab the Mahaweli land, Prof Jayasumana said.

A single call from a politician to the Divisional Secretary would help them grab land, he said.

The proposal would be a threat to national security, Prof Jayasumana said.

“Budget 2023 does not offer practical solutions. It is only a concept paper. Instead of an action plan, it offers a theoretical framework. There are some positive proposals, such as amalgamating several public sector institutions working in the same field on the same subjects, is a worthy proposal if implemented properly. It is also proposed to digitize such institutions’ work. That the government has to do with utmost care, because we have the experience of what happened when some public sector institutions digitalized their services during the past 20 years. That process has been given to only a few institutes, known for corruption and frauds. As a result of these digitalization processes some international criminals have obtained Lankan passports. When we go for digitalization, we must understand that we have five cables via this country that receives internet data. These submarine cables come to the country via Colombo Fort, Mount Lavinia and Matara. These five cables are currently owned by Sri Lanka Telecom. It is the very same institute that is proposed to be restructured by this Budget. There is no need for restructuring the SLT. It has already been restructured. As a result of that restructuring, the Treasury owns only 49.2 percent share value, while a Malaysian company, by the name of Maxis, owns 44.5 percent and six percent by the public. There is no need for restructuring what is being planned to do is to sell its remaining shares.

SLT has recorded Rs 2,042 million profit in the first nine months of this year. We know that when SLT is given away the prices from Mobitel to Peo TV will be increased. In addition, the SLT has 3.5 acre land in Colombo Fort, seven acre land at Welikada, 37-acre land in Padukka with satellite equipment too would be sold. If the SLT is sold, we’ll lose our data security and that would affect the country’s cyber security. Selling the SLT off is a serious threat to the national security of the country,” Prof Jayasumana said.

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CEYPETCO Fuel prices increased from midnight today (21)

Published

4 hours ago

2026/03/21

Priyan

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (Ceypetco) has announced a revision of fuel prices, effective from midnight today (21).

Accordingly,

Auto Diesel – Rs. 382 (increased by Rs. 79)

Super Diesel – Rs. 443 (increased by Rs. 90)

Petrol 92 Octane – Rs. 398 (increased by Rs. 81)

Kerosene – Rs. 255. (increased by Rs. 60)

Petrol 95 Octane – Rs. 455 (increased by Rs. 90)

Latest News

Advisory for Severe Lightning issued for Galle, Matara, Kaluthara and Rathnapura districts

Published

10 hours ago

2026/03/21

Priyan

Advisory for Severe Lightning Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre Issued at 12.30 p.m. 21 March 2026, valid for the period until 11.00 p.m. 21 March 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur at some places in the Galle, Matara, Kaluthara and Rathnapura districts after 1.00 p.m.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:

The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:

 Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.

 Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.

 Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.

 Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.

 Beware of fallen trees and power lines.

 For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

News

Sri Lanka says it denied US request to land two aircraft at Mattala airport

Published

15 hours ago

2026/03/21

Priyan

Sri Lanka’s president says his government turned down a request from the United States to land two US combat aircraft at a civilian airport earlier this month.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Sri Lanka’s parliament on Friday that Washington had requested permission for the aircraft to land at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in southern Sri Lanka from March 4 to 8.

The request was made on February 26, two days before the US and Israel launched their military offensive against Iran.

“They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight antiship missiles from a base in Djibouti”, Dissanayake told lawmakers. “We turned down the request to maintain Sri Lanka’s neutrality”, he added to applause.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has sparked widespread concern globally, as Iranian missile and drone attacks across the wider Middle East have sent energy prices soaring and fuelled fears of a widening conflict.

US President Donald Trump has also been pressuring Washington’s allies to show more support for the war, slamming NATO countries as “cowards” for refusing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has essentially shuttered the critical Gulf waterway amid the war, forcing leaders around the world to scramble to try to offset the effects on their economies and energy supplies.

Amid the turmoil, many countries have refused to get directly involved in the war while calling for urgent de-escalation.

On Friday, Switzerland announced that it would halt any weapons exports to the US that could be used in military operations against Iran, citing its longstanding policy of neutrality.

“The export of war materiel to countries involved ⁠in the international armed conflict with Iran cannot be authorised for the duration of the conflict”, the Swiss government said.

Sri Lanka’s president also cited his country’s neutrality in the decision to deny the US request to land the two aircraft at Matalla airport earlier this month.

Dissanayake said he had received another request that same day, on February 26, from Iran to seek permission for three naval vessels to make a goodwill visit to Sri Lanka.

“With two requests before us, the decision was clear,” he said, noting that the government denied both to avoid taking sides as signs of escalating conflict emerged.

“Had we said ‘yes’ to Iran, we would have had to say ‘yes’ to the US, as well”, Dissanayake added.

In early March, Sri Lanka’s navy rescued 32 Iranian crew off IRIS Dena after it was torpedoed by a US submarine off the country’s coast, killing at least 84 people.

Days later, Sri Lanka evacuated more than 200 crew members from a second Iranian vessel, IRIS Bushehr, after the ship requested assistance from Colombo.

[Aljazeera]