Fisheries ministry to provide land rights and houses to fishermen in Mullaithivu

Fisheries minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that he will take action to provide houses and rights to the lands of fishing families in two villages called Nayaru & Kokilai in Mullaitivu District in which Sinhala families have been occupying for more than fifty years.

He visited fishing villages of Nayaru and Kokilai on 2nd to meet the Sinhala fisher community in these two fishing villages in order to seek the difficulties confronted by them.

The fisher community expressing their grievances informed the Minister although they have been settling down in these villages for more than 50 years no Government as yet has looked into the difficulties faced by them. At present there are 290 fisher families in Nayaru and 300 in kokilai

They requested the minister to make arrangements to grant rights to the lands they occupy and provide houses for them to continue in fishing activities without hindrance. Accordingly he appointed a committee comprised of officials of the Ministry and the District of Mullativu headed by the District Secretary to look into the issues confronted not only by the fisher families of Nayaru &Kokilai but encompassing the whole fisher community also including Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala dwelling in Mullativu district and to submit a report within one week.

He further instructed Sri Lanka Navy to arrest the fishermen who come from South and engage in illegal fishing in Mullativu and also make use of banned light course system for fishing. He further added that some beach seine operators are engaged in heaving nets by tractors thus causing immense damages to the beach. That is also a banned practice and instructed police to act accordingly.

"Similarly, Nandikadal lagoon and Nayaroo lagoon will be developed as two separate lagoons within this year," he said. Several politicians representing Northern part of the country took part at the occasion.