The uncertanity of legal ownership to the land known as Thambiliyakanda, situated in the Kahagala South Grama Seva Division of the Kamburupitiya Divisional Secretariat in the Matara district has kept 33 families without title to the land that was allocated to them twenty eight years ago, in 1988.
Nilmini Herath the present Divisional Secretary / AGA for Kamburupitiya said that the property in question was vested with the Land Reforms Commission (LRC) and that she did not have the authority to grant the deeds. The LRC however has been unable to trace any documentary evidence to say that the land in question is vested with them.
According to Ven. Mapalagama Pangnakiththi, the Chief Incumbent of the Pathumgama Viharaya, the land presently known as Thambiliyakanda and the Batuwita Colony, was a state farm back in 1970 - 74 period when Sirimavo Bandaranaike was Prime Minister. The farm was subsequently abandoned and became shrub land until it was separated into half acre plots and gifted to people in the area by Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1988.
"The Batuwita Colony which has 41 plots of land comes under the Thihagoda Divisional Secretariat, while the 33 plots of land in Thambiliyakanda comes under the Kamburupitiya Divisional Secretariat. The Divisional Secretary of Thihagoda handed over the title deeds to the families residing in the Batuwita Colony in 1998. But the Divisional Secretariat in Kamburupitiya has been unable to sort things out yet," the Ven Thera said.
Thambiliyakanda Village Development Society Secretary Abeywickrema Malawiarachchige Sriyani said that the 33 families residing in the village were asked to pay a fee to the LRC in March 2008 for the use of each half acre plot for the period 1994 to 2007. "I had to pay Rs. 2,940 which I did with great difficulty and have a receipt for the payment. Some folk had to pawn their jewelery to make this payment. Although I have gone to the LRC office on behalf of the villagers to try to get the deeds for the lands on many occasions, they have not been able to settle the issue to date," she said.
"We were issued a certificate of grant for the property under the Land Grant (Special Provisions) Act No. 43 of 1979 signed by Kamburupitiya Assistant Government Agent A.. M. Piyasena dated 30/10/1991. We have built permanent houses on the land. The people in the village are daily wage earners. Most are engaged in cottage industries or work as laborers. We were unable to obtain housing loans as we did not posess a deed," Anura Jayawardena, the 56-year-old President of the 'Asarana Sarana' elders society in the village said.
"I had a problem when obtaining the electricity connection a few years ago," chipped in L. A. Kumara, a resident of the village. "I had to pay Rs. 1,500 to the LRC before they gave their consent to obtain the electricity supply to my house. The others who got electricity connections before and after me did not have to pay a cent," he alleged. As the granting of title deeds to those who held certificates of grant to state land was an election promise by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the villagers of Thambiliyakanda have made representations to the Chief of the Prime Ministers Staff and Minister of Law and Order and Southern Development, Sagala Rathnayaka, who in turn has detailed the Assistant Social Secretary at the Prime Minister's office Vasantha Kuruppu to ensure that the matter is resolved.
"We requested the Divisional Secretary to hand over the deeds to you on the March 24, which happened to be Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's birthday. That was not possible due to this snag," Vasantha Kuruppu said, addressing the villagers who had gathered at the Thambiliyakanda comunity hall to stage a protest demanding title deeds to the lands.
There was a ray of hope in the eyes of the residents of Thambiliyakanda when the Assistant Social Secretary at the Prime Minister's office said that the LRC had admitted that the land known as Thambiliyakanda was likely vested with them and that they (the LRC) would issue the deeds once this was confirmed. It is hoped that the thirty-three families in Thambiliyakanda will hold title deeds to the land they have occupied for the past twenty eight years soon.
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