• Protest over alleged plans by Govt to settle ‘Southerners’ in agri lands 

A group of people staged a protest yesterday (2) in Nedunkerny, demanding that the proposed ‘Kivul Oya Reservoir Project’, which is expected to be launched to provide irrigation facilities for farming to the residents of Welioya and the Northern Province, be halted. Representatives of Tamil political parties in the Northern Province, along with area residents staged the protest.

Protesters claim that under the pretext of providing water for agriculture to the people of Welioya through the proposed Kivul Oya project, there are plans to resettle people from the South in the North. They further claimed that the Government is aiming to carry out a settlement program by allocating agricultural lands in the Northern Province to people from the South through the water project, and emphasised they strongly oppose this plan.