The President made these remarks at a ceremony held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium to distribute ‘Ranbima’ title deeds on 19 August. Around 1500 landless families that had lived for long in government owned lands, received Ranbima deeds from the President. This event was organised by the Land Reform Commission (LRC). It has granted over 50,000 title deeds for such families since 2007.

Addressing the ceremony, the President said obtaining ownership of a plot of land is a significant moment for anyone. It would help the people to utilise them with dignity and pride because some have been awaiting ownership of land for three decades. According to the Mahinda Chinthana, it had been scheduled to offer land ownership to one million landless families.

The President further said that land value is increasing significantly owing to the ongoing infrastructure development and requested all the recipients to get the best use of their lands. The fertile agricultural lands immensely contribute to the country’s economic stability and therefore asked them to manage their lands productively to simultaneously enhance their livelihoods and increase contribution to the national agricultural output. The President urged recipients of land deeds to cultivate more local crops in their lands to meet both their needs and that of the country.

The president further said that the government's next target is to provide pure drinking water to each and every household in the country. This will also be achieved without delay. Sri Lanka's literacy rate on IT has been praised by the international community. Due to this achievement Government of France has donated a sum of one million US dollars to expand Nenasala IT teaching programme.

The present government never does anything for political gain or for attracting votes. Everything is done to a proper plan, a set target and with a result oriented vision. Therefore the present government which aims to bring benefit to the masses would not be halted for any reason, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.

Chairman of the LRC, Nimal Punchihewa and Director General Harigupta Rohanadheera also addressed the ceremony. Venerable Maha Sangha, Minister S.B.Dissanayake, Deputy Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharana, Governor of the Western Province Alewi Maulana, Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga and Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga were present.

Pix by: Sudath Silva