Govt. decides to grant state lands to war heroes
The Government has decided to grant state lands to war heroes under the State Lands Ordinance and a proposal made by President Maithripala Sirisena, in his capacity as the Minister of Defence, to proceed with the project with amendments to resolve its prevailing shortcomings, this was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
Cabinet spokesman, Mass Media and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Gayantha Karunatilaka told the weekly cabinet news briefing yesterday that the government had implemented various welfare programmes for the caring of war heroes who had sacrificed their lives, having disappeared and become disabled in the Tri forces, the Police Department and the Civil Security Department during their active service on behalf of the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.
In terms of the Government policy of looking after the relatives of the deceased, missing in action and disabled war heroes who were engaged in active service defending the sovereignty of Sri Lanka and their dependants, numerous welfare projects were implemented, Minister Karunatilaka said. “In the process of granting lands, all relevant parties including the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Law and Order, the Ministry of Lands and the Ranaviru Seva Authority have identified that the current programme of granting lands should be suitably amended in order to rectify the shortcomings and to provide further relief to war heroes who contributed to the successful conclusion of operations”, he added.
The beneficiaries of this programme would be only for officers, soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army, Navy, Air force, the Police, the Civil Security Department who were enlisted before June 01, 2009, who possess no land for settlement, who are currently engaged in service, retired, disabled and and have left the service and for the next of kin of officers soldiers deceased or missing in action, belonging to a previously mentioned Force or Department. For beneficiaries recognized as the next of kin of war heroes who were deceased while engaged in active service or missing in action granting a free plot of state land.