The Government intends to release as much State-held land in the Northern Province as possible before the end of this year, Environment Minister Dhammika Patabendi told Parliament on Tuesday.

A Cabinet-appointed committee has identified the lands currently held by the State, and steps will be taken to release those that can be handed over before the year-end, the Minister said, the Daily Mirror reported.

The reason given for delay

Patabendi said the process had been held up by a lack of cooperation from certain State institutions in some districts. He did not name the institutions or the districts in what is reported.

That is an unusually direct attribution of delay to other arms of the state, and it locates the obstacle inside government rather than in the identification of the land itself — the committee’s work, on the Minister’s account, is done.

The caveat attached

The Minister also said that unauthorised construction or land clearing will not be permitted on lands currently under State control.

The two statements sit together: land is to be released, but occupation or development ahead of release is not sanctioned. The filing does not say whether any such unauthorised activity has been detected, or what enforcement is contemplated.

Context

Land held by the state in the Northern Province — including areas retained after the war — has been a standing demand in northern politics, and releases have been announced in stages by successive governments. The Minister’s commitment is framed as an aim rather than a scheduled handover, and the qualifier “as much as possible” does the work in the sentence.

Not reported

The Daily Mirror does not give the extent of land involved in acres or hectares, does not say how much has already been released, and does not identify which agencies hold the remainder — whether the military, the Forest Department, the Wildlife Department or others.

It does not name the Cabinet-appointed committee, say when it was constituted or when it reported, or state whether its findings have been published. There is no indication of how original owners or claimants are to be identified, nor any response from northern MPs or from the institutions the Minister says have not cooperated.

No other verified newsroom had filed on the statement at the time of writing.