Consultative Committee on Plantation Industries digs into underutilized lands under plantation companies

The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Plantation Industriesdecided that the government must look at the acquisition of underutilized land owned by large-scale plantation companies.At a recent meeting of the committee, Minister of Plantation, Ramesh Pathirana stated that they had been looking into it and a proposal on this has been submitted to the cabinet for approval.

The Minister said this responding to Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa on lands owned by large-scale companies.The Minister pointed out that large-scale plantation companies are no longer planting new crops. They just maintain the existing cultivation or sell the old trees on those lands. Furthermore, the Minister said that they do not support public purposes by handing over land.

Premadasa said that his party would support the drafting of the necessary laws regarding the acquisition of these underutilized lands by the government.He also suggested that large-scale underutilized lands should be taken over by the government and given to small-scale tea planters to uplift the country’s tea industry.

Moreover, there was a discussion about the market prices of tea fertilizers and pesticides and their adequacy. Also discussed were the problems related to the plantation industry in the region.

Parliamentarians Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Isuru Dodangoda, Gunathilaka Rajapaksha, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksha, Weerasumana Weerasinghe, (Dr.) V. Radhakrishnan, Sudath Manjula,Akila Ellawala were present at the Committee meeting. (SI)