Former Member of the Northern Provincial Council T. Ravikaran and Member of Parliament S. Kajendran have thwarted an attempt to appropriate the lands belonging to the Tamils in Kokkuthoduvai, Mullaitivu.
Sinhalese in the Weli Oya area were involved in an attempt to encroach on the native field lands of the Tamil people in the Kokkuthoduvai Poomadukandal area under the Divisional Secretariat Division.
Kokkuthoduvai and Poomadukandal are the native rainfed fields of the Tamils. Until the migration of the people of Kokkuthoduvai in 1984, they had been cultivating paddy in more than 420 acres of land in the Poomadukandal area.
In this situation, after a long period of displacement, the Tamils belonging to the Kokkuthoduvai area were resettled in their own lands in 2011.
After the resettlement, the Tamil people were engaged in agricultural activities on more than 138 acres of land in the Poomadukandal area.
While the Tamil people in the fields were engaged in the preparations for the heavy rainfed paddy cultivation in the area, the Sinhalese from the Weli Oya area interfered and attempted to undertake their own cultivation of the land.
In this situation, the Tamil people of the area had appealed to the former member of the Northern Provincial Council Thurairasa Ravikaran and the Member of Parliament Selvaraja Gajendran.
Following their request, MP Gajendran and Ravikaran inspected the situation in the area on September 12.
At that time, many Sinhalese were engaged in clearing land in an attempt to expropriate the Tamils of their native lands.
The appropriation attempt was thwarted by a series of altercations between the Sinhalese encroachers and the Tamil delegation and people who went there.
Following this, an official from the Mahaweli Development Authority visited the area. Discussions took place between the concerned officer and the Tamil people's representatives.
It was then decided to hold a discussion on the land issue at the District Secretariat under the chairmanship of the Mullaitivu District Secretary on another day.
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