Chief Government Whip Urban Development and Sacred Area Development Minister Dinesh Gunawardana on Thursday told Parliament that the government has planned to declare the Kachchativ island as a sacred area and to develop it.

Minister Gunawardana was answering a question, on behalf of the Prime Minister, raised by JVP MP Premasiri Manage.

JVP MP Bimal Ratnayake raising a supplementary question pointed out that the small island has no permanent structures but only a church belonging to a certain religious sect. He said that the government must take immediate steps to put up some permanent structures or ask the Navy to set-up a camp there because those things are taken into account by international courts when deciding the ownership of small islands in disputes between nations. The ownership of the island is of Sri Lanka since the day India had handed it over to Sri Lanka, but the issue was very sensitive as there were some undue pressure from Indian fishermen on their government to take Kachchativ back.

Minister Gunawardana said that there were no influences made by the Indian Government on the Sri Lanka Government regarding the Kachchativ Island. The extent of the island was 112 hectares, he said.