President issues instructions to expedite release of lands in the North

President Maithripala Sirisena has issued instructions to expedite the process of handing over lands acquired by the military to their rightful owners in the North, the President's Office said today (Aug 28).

Addressing a meeting with state officials, the President instructed that the lands be released without affecting national security and that a report be submitted in that regard to the Northern Governor on October 1.

Mr. Sirisena had also instructed that compensation should be paid to landowners if security forces require private lands.

During the discussion, security officials had informed the President that 80.98 percent of state lands and 90.73 percent of private lands which had been acquired during the war have been released so far, a statement from the President's Office said.

Defence Secretary Gen. Shantha Kottegoda, Chief-of-Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Commanders of the tri-forces, Northern Governor Suren Raghavan, and other officials were present at the meeting.