Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Sinhala farmers settled on state land in Batticaloa

Eastern Provincial Council officials say a "well-planned strategy" was underway to settle Sinhalese farmers on state lands with the backing of a Buddhist monk.

District Secretary PSM Charles and Agriculture Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council K.Thurairajasingham made the discovery during their visit to the border of Mathavanai and Mayilathamadhu, just within the borders of the Batticaloa district.

In Senkalady and Kiran Divisional Secretariats, state lands have also been acquired illegally and at least 300 families are living in temporary shelters. The construction of a Buddhist Vihara is also under way in the middle of the resettlements.

The Chief Monk of the Vihara told government officials that they had been living in these areas since 1967 and following the resumption of war in 2006, they displaced to other Sinahala areas. They claimed they resettle in their own lands three years ago and most of the families are engage in farming for survival in paddy fields located adjacent to the resettlements. #

A meeting called to discuss the illegal settlement was held without media presence. A Tamil freelance journalist in Batticaloa was evicted from the meeting scheduled to discuss the ongoing, illegal settlement of Sinhalese in the border villages of the district. He was told by the officials at the secretariat that the meeting was ‘strictly for higher officials only’ and was thrown out from the building by police constables.

M Nilanthan was at the District Secretariat to report on the meeting called by Ms Charles to discuss the issues.

The officials told him that they were instructed by the secretary not to allow any media personnel at the meeting since it’s was only for higher officials who were attending from various departments, including from the land survey department and the forest conservation department.

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.