Ayurvedic institute land to be sold to Indian company

The government has decided to sell a part of the premises in which the Ayurvedic Medical Institute is located to an Indian company, the Socialist Students Union (SSU) alleged yesterday.

D. Jayatissa said the school did not have adequate lecture room facilities and needed expansion

SSU National Organizer Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa told the Daily Mirror that the Cabinet had given permission to proceed with the move.

Dr. Jayatissa said that extents of 10 perches are to be sold to a Mumbai-based company to build an apartment complex. He said it was done by turning down a request by the staff and student unions to make maximum space available to expand the medical school.

Dr. Jayatissa said the medical institute where more than 700 students study indigenous medicine was currently congested especially in a situation where new batches comprising 150 students were being enrolled annually. He said the

school

He said the school did not have adequate lecture room facilities and essentially needed an expansion

did not have adequate lecture room facilities and essentially needed an expansion.

The SSU alleged that the government was not interested in the much needed expansion of the school and therefore requested the government to change its decision and annul the cabinet decision. However according to the cabinet paper no 11/1468/521/031 by Higher Education Minister S. B. Dissanayake the said extent of land had already been given to the Indian company on lease. The leasing had been done before the paper was submitted to the cabinet. The purpose of the cabinet paper was to revalue the land before handing it over to the company. It is stated in the cabinet paper that a valuation was necessary because value of the land had gone up as the access road to the land had been expanded and done up.