Nay Pyi Taw, June 26 (IANS): Over 2,500 hectares of confiscated land in Myanmar's Ayeyawaddy region were returned to farmers in Pantanaw and Pyapon townships, officials said on Sunday.

Vice President U Henry Van Htio said that more efforts were taken to release more remaining land, Xinhua news agency reported.

The vice president, who is also Chairman of the Central Review Committee on Confiscated Farmland, told farmers in Pantanaw township that the government was making systematic efforts to ensure transparency in order to hand over confiscated land back to farmers, urging the regional authorities to take bold steps to solve the land issues within the legal framework.

Meanwhile, plans are also underway to return over 445 hectares of land to farmers in Mandalay region.

More than one month after taking office, the new government voiced commitment to the speedy resolution of farmland confiscation issue and for the return of abandoned land to their lawful owners.

Permissions were granted in accordance with the 2012 Farmland Law during the previous government to private companies and government departments to confiscate land, including farmland, under the pretext of urbanisation and industrialisation.

The move has evoked land disputes among the government, landowners and investors over ownership.