Release N-E lands to original owners before Dec. 31: President

President Maithripala Sirisena instructed the authorities to complete the process of releasing lands in the Northern and Eastern provinces to their original owners, before December 31 this year, after resolving all the issues pertaining to land ownership.

President Sirisena gave these instructions when the officials of the Presidential Task Force, monitoring the development projects conducted in Northern and Eastern provinces gathered for the third time at the Parliamentary Complex.

President Sirisena further instructed the officials to prepare a proper time frame and report the progress to the next meeting of the Presidential Task Force to monitor the development projects conducted in the Northern and Eastern provinces, to be held next month.

Further, special attention was drawn regarding the release of lands and buildings belonging to schools, which are still under the control of the security forces as well as about the progress of the projects implemented to solve the issues of drinking water in the North and East.

The people living in several parts of the Trincomalee District are facing severe water shortage and during this meeting the President inquired about the programme which was launched to solve this issue.

Even though the Akkaraipaththu area has adequate water resources, the water distribution to several villages and communities were obstructed due to the lack of a distribution network, and attention was drawn to find prompt solutions for this issue.

The progress of the programmes implemented to provide relief to the drought affected people in the North and East Provinces as well as progress of the programmes launched to prevent the violence acts and the use of drugs in the North and East provinces were also discussed.

President Sirisena, who inquired about the progress of the development activities of the shrine of Our Lady at Madhu, emphasized that all should fulfill their respective duties appropriately in the process of providing development benefits to the people in the North and East which was deprived from them due to the prolonged war.

The President also explained the importance of getting the support of all the sectors when reaching the expected development goals.

Ministers and MPS, including Opposition Leader R. sam pan than, governors, Secretary to the President Udaya R Seneviratne, public servants, Tri Service Commanders, heads of security forces, the Inspector General of Police participated in this occasion.

Further, special attention was drawn regarding the release of lands and buildings belonging to schools