SL Governor Dodges Ki’linochchi DCC Meeting

Colombo’s military and departments confronted

by TamilNet, July 29, 2019

…SLA was having only seven acres of lands…

…CSD was refusing to release the 310 acres of lands at the Civic Centre Village and 105 acres at Marutha-nakar…

The so-called Civil Security Division (CSD) and the occupying SL Army, which come under the SL Defence Ministry in Colombo continue to occupy more than 400 acres of farmlands in Ki’linochchi district. The Tamil people suspect the SL Police of backing the Sinhala miners who operate almost all the tipper trucks, which scoop the sands in the region excessively. At the same time, various departments working under the unitary system of the SL State continue to exercise their power in seizing the properties ignoring the divisional authorities and the civic councils. Knowing that these crucial matters were scheduled to be taken up for discussion at a plenary session, Suren Raghavan, the deceitful Tamil SL Governor to North, was absconding from attending the District Coordination Committee meeting on Monday.

Major General Vijitha Ravipriya, the SL Army commander in the district was trying to water down the role of SLA in the military land grab. He claimed that the army camp situated near the farmlands were meant to protect the civilians, for example, from the floods and the activities of the drug dealers. Furthermore, the SLA was having only seven acres of lands, and it was not his business to answer the questions regarding the farmlands that had been seized by the CSD. The CSD also comes under the SL Defence Ministry.

TNA Parliamentarian S. Shritharan, one of the co-chairs of the DCC meeting, and the chairman of Karaichchi Divisional Council A. Velamalikathan were at the forefront in exposing occupying Colombo’s conduct, which was violating all forms of devolution.

The arguments put forward by the SL military commander of the area were illogical, Mr Shirtharan said.

The SL military was occupying all the vital installations that were employing the people in the past, be it the chemical factory or the farms, he said.

The lands seized by the CSD belong to the provincial civil authorities, the Agriculture Farm and the Agriculture School.

The provincial agriculture department official who was present at the meeting received flak for not properly divulging the details of the lands occupied by the CSD at the meeting.

The CSD was refusing to release the 310 acres of lands at the Civic Centre Village and 105 acres at Marutha-nakar, it was later revealed at the meeting.

The directors of departments coming under the unitary state in Colombo are providing licenses or letters to various operators who use these documents to engage in illegal sand scooping and other exploitative activities. There is a coordinating body under the District Secretary that must be consulted beforehand. However, such procedures are not followed. The people have no other choice than taking to the streets and approaching the courts, Mr Shritharan said.

The recent controversy of sand scooping at Kauthaari-munai in Poonakari was an example to the issue, he said. Poonakari Divisional Council should consider taking the case to the courts, the TNA MP said.

Kauthaari-munai is the only settlement in the entire district to have residents (currently 74 families) with 3,000 years of ancestral legacy to the locality. Such a case is not even found elsewhere in the province, Mr Shritharan observed.

R. Ketheeswaran, the district secretary and a co-chair of the meeting, admitted that the people were alleging SL Police involvement and inaction against the dangerous sand scooping in the district.

SL Ministry of Environmental & Natural Resources and the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) operate violating the provisions of the 13th Amendment.

The TNA Parliamentarian also argued that all the Sinhala names of projects being carried out in the district should have their Tamil equivalents when rendered in Tamil script. A resolution was passed. The TNA MP said it is a right already established through the 13th Amendment and the Civic Councils, district and divisional administrative organs must make sure that Tamil equivalents are correctly rendered.

ITAK President Mavai Senathirajah, who collaborates with the hierarchy of the TNA was silently seated at a corner chair. Viyakala Maheswaran, an SL Minister of the UNP, remained largely also as a silent spectator to the meeting. Ms Maheswaran was one of the co-chairs of the DCC meeting.

Suren Raghavan, a Tamil academic, installed as the colonial Governor according to the preferences of the Sinhala Buddhist Theravada Establishment in the South, who was absconding from the meeting, has also been an advisor to SL President Maithiripala Sirisena.

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=39527

Chronology:

29.07.19 SL Governor dodges Ki’linochchi DCC meeting, Colom..

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