News
Kajeemawatta had squatter families, but blaze site not UDA owned
View(s):By Yoshitha Perera
An application to the Urban Development Authority (UDA) under the Right to Information Act, has revealed that the Kajeemawatta land in Grandpass, where a blaze displaced more than 300 people, is not owned by the authority.
Most residents who had settled on the land received houses from the authority, and the current families may have settled on the same land with the aim of getting houses again, the UDA said in responding to the information request.
“By the end of 2014, all residents had received houses. However, the land has been occupied by squatters since 2015,” according to UDA sources.
The UDA said that a study is being done with the assistance of relevant institutions.
Pix by M A Pushpa Kumara
It also said that when the authority selects settlements for resettlement, measures are taken after obtaining all the information from families, and no social impact assessment will be prepared for these types of projects. However, relevant facts will be considered.
A raging fire is not a new experience for the residents of Kajeemawatta, and this was the third such disaster in the past two years. These people, however, continue to live in makeshift houses and are demanding relocation.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing said in October, following the fire, that 214 people in Kajeemawatta are not eligible for housing under the UDA project.
According to the ministry statement, the information was found in the report handed over to the UDA and the secretary of the Ministry of Housing regarding the fire at Kajeemawatta.
As a result, according to the report, the UDA will not be able to provide housing for the 214 individuals in question under the urban revitalisation project.
The report says nearly 291 families were illegally residing at Kajeemawatta, with 57 families approved for housing in 2019.
The ministry said that 20 more families are eligible for housing under the urban revitalisation project.
According to UDA information, new houses have already been provided to 11,269 families as part of the urban revitalisation project, and about 2,559 more apartments are expected to be provided.
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