Member of Parliament Attorney at Law Mr Wasantha Yapabandara engaged in a campaign with the people of the area against the unauthorized acquisition of 22 acres of land in the Hantana Uragala area.Sri Lanka Latest News
The MP spoke to the media during the protest.
Today, the people of Hanthana, Uragala area, the innocent people living in this plantation have gathered in large numbers and are conducting a campaign against the planters at this time. In fact, these estate managers are trying to grab the estates of innocent people and mislead the court to hand over 22 acres in Hantana Uragala area to a group of smugglers through an underhanded deal.
Then this Hantana is a water-fed area of the Mahaweli River. These people are selling the huge trees in this water supply area for looting and are working to acquire them in this Hantana area as smugglers. A situation has arisen where these poor people who live in slums, if they go to this garden and cut a branch, these people will be put in jail.
However, until these planters took possession of 22 acres of land, they did not show any interest in driving away the smugglers who took possession of the land. No legal action was taken.
In the past, when the public protested against the land robbery of the people in this Hantana area, the planters turned a blind eye. We know very well what they say after the 22 acres of Uragala area is fenced and the land is separated and the case is filed in the court. What do those who said JEDB lands at that time say now, now they are not JEDB lands, we want these to be settled without any compromise.
Today, the Estate Officers of these JEDB lands are muttering that these do not belong to the Estate Authority, nor do they belong to the government. We are saying that we are working against giving these poor lands to the smugglers who are robbing the poor and innocent people of government land for crores and crores through underhanded deals.
Not only the people of Kandy, the thirst of many people in this country is quenched because of the Mahaweli River. This Mahaweli river will never sit, these watershed areas have been given different labels to the smugglers, given development labels and sold to them through underhand deals. That is why we stand together and fight against this Hantan land robbery.
We ask all the educated and intelligent people of this country to oppose this massive land robbery. These innocent people are not given two or three perches. If these innocent people set up shop on the roadside, they will be chased away. The innocent children of the village are not allowed to build a playground to play. Without giving land to these innocent traditional people, this water supply area that quenches the thirst of these poor people is being given fruits to smugglers. By misleading the court, the estate officers, as well as the chairpersons of these estates, have reached the position of misleading the court. That is why we say that we are fighting as Kandy people for the right of JEDB lands and the property of the public of the government, even if one falls on the other.
