20 June 2020 03:02 am
Construction work on two Udagama housing schemes in the Lunugamvehera elephant management forest reserve funded by the Indian government were suspended by the National Housing Authority on Thursday.
National Housing Authority Chairman Renuka Perera said the beneficiaries of the two housing schemes would receive land in other areas and that he had instructed the Hambantota district Manager of the NHA to take immediate steps in this regard.
The Chairman and National Housing Authority officials had taken this decision after inspecting the substandard housing projects in the Hambantota district. The construction work in Tennyson Edirisuriya Gama and Gunapala Thissakuttiarachchi Gama housing projects comprising 48 houses were suspended by the NHA.
Mr. Perera said the funds donated by the Indian government have been misused in the construction of the housing scheme in a forest reserve exposing the people to wild elephant threats. (Dileep Jayasekara)