The Hon. M.S. Abthul Wazeeth
Hon. M.S. Abthul Wazeeth raised a supplementary question about 180 acres at Iraththal West Palliyadiwattai, said to have been cultivated by Pottuvil and Lakugala farmers since 1978 but restricted for eight years due to a Forest Department court order, affecting about 63 families. He cited prior administrative permissions, farmer registration, meetings, and a pending case against 17 farmers, and asked whether steps could be taken under Cabinet decisions to release these lands, as well as lands at Sengamam and Sarvodaya Pura, for cultivation.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, my second supplementary:
¶ 02 For lands identified as “Iraththal West Palliyadiwattai,” cultivated for many years by Pottuvil and Lakugala farmers, cultivation has been restrained by a court order obtained by the Forest Department for the last eight years, affecting the livelihoods of about 63 families. About 180 acres are involved. These have been cultivated since 1978, with a farmers’ organization registered on 09.04.2015 under DAD/16/18/40 9410. Based on the DS’s recommendation for the 2015/16 season, the Forest Department granted permission on 27.11.2014. At a meeting on 23.10.2015, approval was granted to cultivate 180 acres. Related meetings were held at Lakugala DS. A case No. 25684/1/2018 is pending against 17 farmers. These lands, cultivated for over 30 years, have since been declared ordinary forests, yet about 70 acres were still permitted for cultivation. Can you, based on Cabinet decisions, take steps to release these lands and also those at Sengamam and Sarvodaya Pura?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Monday, 24 November 2025 ·No. 23008 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/15257
Cite as: The Hon. M.S. Abthul Wazeeth. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 24 November 2025. No. 23008. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/15257