Cabinet approval was granted to the cancellation of the lease agreement for the Voice of America facility at Iranawila.

The US agency had requested for the cancellation of the agreement regarding the 410 acre land even before the expiration of the lease agreement.

The land was the source of much dispute due to opposition by local residents and also from India. The Indians were alarmed at a time that this was a listening post operated by the US.

Transmission from the site began in 1994.