Sinhala encroachment of pastureland continues unabated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 June 2020, 22:03 GMT]
Sinhala settlers have again encroached into the pasturelands in the interior Batticaloa putting up huts even though the SL Forest Department and SL Mahaweli Authority officers were claiming that they had evicted the intruders earlier this month. Nimalan Kandasamy, who represents Dairy Farmers Association in Koa'ra'laippattu South and Ea'raavoor-pattu said the new intruders were probably workers brought by the Sinhala colonists who were never evicted. The trouble-making settlers among the Sinhalese must be permanently expelled from the area to control the menace of encroachment, he said.

The SL Mahaweli Authority and the Forest Department were providing misleading information to local authorities in Batticaloa, Mr Kandasamy said.

SL Police was collaborating with the SL departments and authorities to conceal the illegal land grab, a public sector source at the District Secretariat of Batticaloa said.

Despite the token action taken by the SL Police due to repeated complaints from the Tamil farmers, the Police officially denied that Sinhala settlers were encroaching the pastureland.

A section of civil servants is also forced to collaborate with the SL Departments and Mahaweli Authority to harass the Tamil farmers who agitate against the colonisation.

In the meantime, the SL Mahaweli authority has identified land plots to settle more than one thousand Sinhala colonists in the area, Kandasamy said.

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