Steps are being taken by the Government to grant full ownership of State lands to 10,000 applicants in January next year.

According to circular No. 2023/01 issued by the Land Commissioner General’s Department on 21 December, under Phase I of the ‘Urumaya’ programme launched by the Government, out of the applications submitted, 10,000 applicants will receive full ownership of their lands.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Budget proposal towards this end has set the stage for transforming land ownership for the farming population.

Delivering the 2024 Budget proposals, President Wickremesinghe unveiled the ‘Urumaya’ programme, wherein he noted that the land slots distributed among farmers under the licences of the Land Development Ordinance in 1935 would be handed back to farmers.

“Although around 100 years have passed, the ownership of these farmlands has not been handed back to the farmers who own them. We are handing over the lands to farmers who lost the ownership of their traditional lands during the British colonial era. We expect to commence this task in 2024 and complete it within another few years. Two million families will get the ownership of land and farmland. I allocate Rs. 2 billion for this purpose,” he said.