By Cyril Wimalasurendre
KANDY: The allocation of land, from the Plantation Industries Ministry owned Hantana Estate, has been suspended to prevent the invaluable mountain range, including Kandy’s National Forest Reserve, being destroyed by money makers, co-chairman of the Kandy District Co-ordinating Committee and Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said.
Presiding over the Kandy DCC, meeting on Monday (09), jointly with the Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayaka, Minister Aluthgamage disclosed that he objected to a proposal embodied in a Cabinet paper recently for the allocation of at least 300 acres of land for two hotels and a university from the Hantana Plantation.
Demanding land from Hantana has turned out to be a serious problem. This is the only land available in Kandy. If the mountain range is fragmented and given out to different individuals and groups, Kandy will be threatened by environmental disaster, Minister Aluthgamage said.
Central Provincial Council Member Mahinda Abeykoon told the meeting that land to the extent of 200 acres was earlier promised for the resettlement of the families who lost their homes in the Uduwela area due to landslides last year. But only 87 acres were issued and now the re-settlement of the troubled families has posed a problem.
Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayaka said that any allocation of land from Hantana should be made known to the Kandy District Co-ordinating Committee.
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