The Hon. Aravinda Senarath

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, this issue has been widely discussed, including previously in this House. Before the last Presidential Election, the then Government and President, targeting the election, proposed to issue 2 million deeds under the ‘Urumaya’ name without adequate study of feasibility and capacity. It is a complex process, and only a small number had actually been processed. After we assumed office, we halted that irregular process, regularized it in consultation with officials, gathered all district-level information, and are proceeding under the “Himikama” (Ownership) programme to issue deeds. By May this year, we are prepared to issue around 65,000 deeds.

¶ 02 As noted, the prior irregular method collected documents at Divisional Secretariats without a proper channel to transmit data to the Ministry; many are still not entered into the system. We are coordinating with officials to incorporate all outstanding cases into the system and are setting out a clear, lawful process to deliver deeds to the public.