Wattegama Kebaliththa, Siyambalanduwa Divisional Secretariat, Moneragala District, Kotiyagala Forest Department, Valuable Reserve Forests, with the assistance of powerful politicians who have been ministers and MPs in the area for a long time. From. This massive land grab, carried out with the support of powerful opposition politicians, is at least twenty times more than the destruction of 3,000 acres in Wilpattu. Environmentalists in the area say that despite explaining the situation to politicians, there has been no reduction in deforestation.
However, the Forest Department had taken steps to stop the occupation of 20 to 100 acres of land by large scale businessmen and to conserve the relevant reserves. In such an environment, at the request of Basil Rajapaksa, the then head of the Economic Committee appointed by the President, the former Cabinet Minister of Forests, C.W. B. Ratnayake and the then Minister of Lands. M. Through the circulars 1/2020 and 18/2020 issued by Chandrasena respectively, 3% of the forest cover in Sri Lanka and at least 50 million hectares of land (approximately 1.2 million acres) were taken over by the Department of Forest Conservation, Wattegama Lot. The Kotiyagala reserve lands are also forests controlled by the Department of Forest Conservation which belong to this government jungle. In the above circulars, the Divisional Secretaries arbitrarily issued land licenses and deeds for political purposes in the event of the deforestation of these forests, and the majority of businessmen continued to encroach on these forest lands.
Under the above circumstances, this organization posing as nearly 3000 farmers and businessmen (including corrupt government officials) has cleared 25,000 acres of land from the reserve and handed it over to the Divisional Secretary without looking for anything to distribute to the pirates. Granting more than 2 acres of government land is an illegal act under the State Land Ordinance. Accordingly, if land was given to poor farmers for cultivation, nearly 6000 acres would be required. (63% of the land area of Sri Lanka is agricultural land but today only 40% of it is used productively). Accordingly, the Department of Forest Conservation has transferred an additional 19,000 acres to the Divisional Secretary. However, while the Survey Department is conducting surveys to distribute the relevant lands, the business groups who have been stealing 50 and 100 acres of land have taken steps to disrupt the survey process. They also mobilized their money and employees as well as the villagers in the area and forcibly persuaded them to seize lands in the Kotiyagala reserve in Wattegama, saying that they would be given 5 to 10 acres of land. Also, a monk from the area and a person who contested from the area and lost in the last general election have been brought forward and the reserve has been trespassed and damaged on several occasions. The Department worked together and the Army received a great deal of support for the conservation process.
In addition, the Air Force even flew aerial landmines into the forest through the Seed Bomb Project, and on several occasions these organized land grabbers acted to damage the relevant plantations. As Minister, Wimalaweera Dissanayake at that time did not allow any other reserved or proposed reserve land to be occupied by unauthorized land grabbers and the necessary steps were taken to declare them as protected reserves. Organized business lands are being seized by pirates. Hundreds of tractors, bikes and vehicles have forcibly entered the reserve and started encroaching on the plantation land and forest lands and clearing the land. The robbers surrounded the forest rangers and the police special task force who were trying to enforce the law against the illegal activity.
Kabilitta also cut down ... 20 times as much destruction as Wilpattu!
It is said. Accordingly, many parties suspect that the Chief of Police is acting arbitrarily without giving his support to the relevant agencies. Accordingly, it has become difficult to conserve and protect the relevant reserves. It is the responsibility of the present Minister in charge, the Forest Department and the Police to stop this deforestation which is more than twenty times as big as the Wilpattu deforestation. Sri Lanka has a very small population compared to most countries in the world. It is less than half even compared to most developed countries. World Environment Day is just 5 days away. However, if Sri Lanka remains silent in the face of the largest forest land grab, Sri Lanka will go beyond the economic crisis, break the law, plunder the country's valuable land resources and ecosystems, and create an environmental crisis and a social crisis.
Jayantha Wijesinghe - Convener, Rainforest Conservation Organization
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