Sri Lanka Army buys private land in South to set up camp

Sri Lanka Army buys private land in South to set up camp

Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 12:34 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Dec 10, Colombo: Sri Lanka Army lacking sufficient state land has bought private land in the South to set up new camps to house the troops removed from the North and East.

Addressing the media, Director/Spokesperson of the Media Centre of the Ministry of Defense, Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said the Army has bought a land belonging to Kotagala Plantations in Ingiriya with a view to establish a camp.

Dismissing the allegations by certain groups that the government has taken over the land, the Spokesperson stressed that the land was bought in keeping with government financial regulation with annual funds allocated to the Army.

Brigadier Wanigasooriya said with the reduction of armed forces' presence in the former war-torn North and East the army needs to have proper places to house those troops brought back from those areas.

He said the Army had to seek alternative solutions and buy private land due to the unavailability of suitable state land.

He stressed that the army has legally acquired the 20-acre land from the private owner in order to establish a camp and had not forcibly occupied the land.

The Spokesperson said that over 40 percent of troops have already been removed from the North and East to other parts of the country. Drawing a parallel of security force presence he said that more than 30 percent of the total security forces are stationed in the Western Province.

Brigadier Wanigasooriya also denied the claims that the security forces had taken over a 12-acre land at Andiyapuliankulam in Chettikulam. He clarified that the former Zone 3 of the Manik Farm Welfare Center for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) was acquired by the security forces from the government on a lease for agricultural purposes.

He said the security forces acquired the land on a lease from the government in 2011 after the IDP camp closed and began developing it as a farm. The army pays an annual rent on the lease to the state, the Spokesperson added.