People will be resettled in Sampur: Basil

21 October 2011 05:50 pm - 2 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa assured in Parliament today that people would be resettled areas in the Sampur area of the Trincomalee District once the land acquisition was completed for the coal power project.

At the moment, people have been denied access to 2,795 acres of land demarcated for the coal power project.

Minister Rajapaksa said that some of these lands would be acquired for the project, and the rest would be given back to their original users. He said that the government would pay compensations for the lands to be acquired.

“We have taken over lands for major development projects in other parts of the country too. We will compensate the people for that. We acquired lands for power projects in upper Kotmale and Kerawalapitiya too. If a road is to be constructed, we need to acquire private lands in some cases,” he said.

The Minister was responding to TNA leader R. Sampanthan who complained that the government had deprived Tamil people of their original lands. Mr. Sampanthan said that these people had deeds and permits for the lands they used in Sampur.

The TNA leader said, “There is a sacred Hindu temple in this area. It is Badrakali Amman Kovil. I used to go there as a little boy at that time. There is a powerful deity there. Please keep that in mind.” (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)

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Comments - 2

Michael Saturday, 22 October 2011 10:16 AM

''There is a powerful deity'' - she's not shown her powers yet, even though all this is happening. Either she's not powerful enough or she's not interested in this whole affair. Why do people have to bring deities into this instead of taking legal action which is the most sensible thing to do?

arthy Saturday, 22 October 2011 09:54 PM

I agree with you minister, But which people you going to resettled?

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People will be resettled in Sampur: Basil

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