The People’s Struggle Alliance (PSA) says that the government is attempting to evict hundreds of farming families in eastern Sri Lanka to make way for an Indian-backed economic zone.
Speaking to reporters outside the Trincomalee District Secretariat, National Executive Member of PSA, Wasantha Mudalige, alleged that the government is forcing out 351 families from 800 acres of farmland in Muttu Nagar, land they have cultivated since 1972.
The remarks came after police disrupted a sit-in protest against the move in front of the Trincomalee district secretariat yesterday (18).
Mudalige claimed the land sale was being framed as a development project, but warned that “development cannot come at the cost of livelihoods.”
He said the government was acting under a pact signed with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 5th, aimed at establishing an Indian economic zone in Trincomalee.
“The people of Muttu Nagar are not against development. They are against being displaced from land they have tilled for over five decades,” Mudalige said, urging the government to halt what he described as forced evictions.
He criticised the continued lack of resolution despite multiple discussions with authorities and warned that the PSA would escalate its protests to Colombo if the issue was not addressed.
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