A Sri Lankan State institution has come under fire for allegedly attempting to take over traditional farming land, for which over 100 war-affected owners have official documentation, while President Ranil Wickremesinghe has recently launched the much publicised ‘Urumaya’ programme that involves giving beneficiaries permanent ownership of state-owned land.
A resident of Kariyalwayal in Pudukudiyiruppu said that the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has taken legal action against him after taking over the land he cultivated. The DWC has filed cases in the Mullaitivu Magistrate Court for entering a national park without permission and damaging its flora. The farmer forced to abandon his ancestral land due to the conflict and returned after the end of war.
“We cultivated paddy until 1983. But, we were not able to go there after that. In the 2010-2012 period, we returned, and cleared the land and resumed farming activities. Through a gazette notification issued in 2015, the DWC declared that this land belongs to them. Later, cases were filed.”
Regional correspondents said that the DWC has filed cases against 130 residents of Kariyalwayal for entering the Chundikulam National Park without permission, clearing trees and climbers in the park, and building roads in the park, and added that the case was taken up on 2 May in the Mullaitivu Magistrates Court for the second time.
Residents of Kariyalwayal had to leave their village in the early 1980s due to the war that broke out in the North, and people belonging to 130 families returned following the end of the war. They had cleared and started cultivating in around 610 acres out of the 980 acres that were traditionally used for farming activities.
Regional correspondents said that while they were continuing their farming activities, in 2015, the DWC had issued a gazette notification claiming that this land belongs to the DWC, and had filed cases against the villagers. They further reported that when the case was taken up on 7 December 2023, the Magistrate Court adjourned it to 2 May 2024.
Attorney V.S. Dhananjayan, who represented the affected families in court on 2 May, told the journalists that out of the 130 persons against whom the DWC has filed cases, over 100 are in the possession of deeds for their land.
“Those who have cases filed against them are persons who hold private lands based on ownership granted by what is called the British rights a hundred years ago, and those who have the government land permit and the Land Development Ordinance (LDO) permit. We have already pointed out the lacunae in the case submissions. Similarly, even today we pointed out such things.”
He further said that after taking into account the facts presented before the court, the Magistrate has directed the petitioner to file revised charges if necessary.
“After this, the court ordered the petitioner to reconsider the subject matter, and if needed, to file a fresh charge sheet, and adjourned the case to 25 July and other dates.”
Allegations are being levelled that the Mahaweli Development Authority, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Archaeology Department, Forest Conservation Department, and the DWC for forcibly taking over land belonging to the Tamils of the north and east.
In May 2023, Thamizh Makkal Tesiya Kootani (TMTK) Leader and Parliamentarian C.V. Vigneswaran said that at a meeting between Tamil representatives and President Wickremesinghe over the forcible occupation of private land in the North- and East, the President had said that steps should be taken according to the forest reserve demarcations in the map chartered by the DWC in 1985.
