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Mullaitivu residents turn back Survey Department officers near Gota Navy Camp 

09 Jun 2022

  • Residents protest demanding 250 ha land be returned by Navy for resettlement, farming
BY Dinitha Rathnayake  Officials from the Survey Department who went this week to mark the boundaries of a plot of land acquired by a Navy Camp in Mullaitivu dubbed “SLNS Gotabaya” were turned back by residents. Speaking to The Morning, Navy Media Spokesman, Captain Indika De Silva confirmed the incident. “The Survey Department is only doing their job and their duty is to have a proper measurement of the lands belonging to the Navy. The residents took this at a personal level, it seems,” he said. Social media reported about an attack by Vattuvakal residents in Mullaitivu‍ against an attempt to seize 250 hectares (ha) of their land. However, according to reports, the residents were influenced by the politicians in the area. Blocking the officials from surveying the land, the residents of Vattuvakal and Mullivaikkal in Mullaitivu staged a protest demanding that their land be returned to them for resettlement and farming. It was said that the land would be acquired for security purposes following a directive from the Defence Ministry and that if there were any claims for the ownership of those lands, the officials needed to be presented with documents such as original deeds or permits of that time. Located north of the Vattuvakal bridge, the land was abandoned by residents in the final phases of the war, according to media reports. They allege that the Navy took the land and set up a base called the Sri Lanka Naval Ship (SLNS) Gotabaya, commonly known as SLNS Gotabaya.


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