We will not give up our soil even though we sacrifice our lives, A.Kunapalasingham, the leader of Vali North Resettlement Group, stated.
Divisional Coordinating Committee Meeting was held on Tuesday morning at the Tellipalai Divisional Secretariat.
He stated like this while responding to the statement stating that attempts are being made to seize the private lands at the vicinity of Palali Airport and Kankesanthurai harbor in order to develop these both.
Following are further stated by him;
Myliddy harbor and the privately owned lands at the vicinity of it are going to be seized for the development and expansion of Kankesanthurai harbor. Therefore, attempts are being made to resettle the people of these areas at some other lands other than their native lands.
Access was denied to the people of Myliddy to engage in fishing since 1983. 33% of total fishing in Sri Lanka was undertaken at Myliddy.
In addition, people were engaged in agricultural activities in these areas. The people of this area are yet to be resettled since they were uprooted in 1990.
In the meantime, if the Kankesanthurai harbor is to be developed without resettling the people at their native lands, then such a development is not needed to us.
Due to that, 2000 families belonging to 3 GN divisions are going to be affected. Therefore, we do not need this development.
Also, it is said that Palali Airport is going to be upgraded as the International Airport. For that, it is said that lands are going to be seized.
There are no embassies in the Northern Province. If we need to go abroad, we should travel to Colombo to get a visa. Therefore, why does the International Airport to be constructed at Palali?
Maththalai Airport which was established during the last regime has been transformed as a store.
Similarly, if the International Airport is constructed at Palali, then it will be transformed as storage of onion and dry fish.
In 1983, we parked our bicycles immediately to the Palali Airport and flied to Colombo after just taking 42 Rupees ticket.
Farms and houses were located even at the boundary of Airport. Like that, people should be resettled at their native lands located at the vicinity of the Airport.
If the steps taken to transform the Palali Airport as an International Airport, then 5000 families belonging to Palali, Uoorani, Kankesanthurai and Kurumpasity will directly be affected.
We do not want such an International Airport as it will affect more than 5000 families.
We want our own lands. For that, we staged several protests during the last regime. Now, this is the tim to the government of good governance. Therefore, we expect our problems to be solved through negotiations during this regime.
The people who displaced to more than 50 km away from Vali North cased their votes for this regime change.
They brought this new government to this new regime. By considering all of this, this government of good governance should resettle these people at their own lands.
