Forest lands for Chena Cultivation? Cabinet Paper to be presented on Wednesday.

Colombo (News 1st);  Minister C. B. Ratnayake said a Cabinet Memorandum will be presented to the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday (09) with a proposal to engage in chena cultivations on Wildlife and Forest Conservation lands, with approval from the respective district secretary.

" I will table the Cabinet Paper on the matter on Wednesday as the District Secretaries are engaged in this task in a proper manner, " said the Minister.

The Divisional and District Secretaries were stripped of the power with regard to making decisions on lands, especially clearing of ‘other state forests’ for cultivation purposes, by two separate circulars.

These two separate circulars brought an end to the arbitrary decisions made by a single individual to release valuable plots of land, and lands were only released following a proper assessment made by the Special Review Committee.

Before the 2020 General Election, a proposal was put forward to the Cabinet of Ministers to vest the powers to transfer lands, to District and Divisional Secretariats.

The proposal was not put into action as a result of the strong objections raised on it.

Concerns have been raised as to whether Minister C. B. Ratnayake is attempting to move the same proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers.