Politicians, cops and businessmen gang up to rape Kebilitta

By Jagath Kanaheraarachchi

Two former ministers, a senior policeman, a prominent monk and several others are involved in clearing Kotiyagala Forest Reserve in Kebilitta illegally.Over 60,000 acres of forest land have already been cleared, environmentalists complain.The forest reserve is located at Siyambalanduwa Pradesheeya sabha in Moneragala and the land cleared in this area is 20 times bigger that the clearings close to the Wilpattu National Park, recently.

The government has allocated 25,000 acres from this forest reserve for people who were displaced by various development activities in the district. Taking advantage of this, several powerful individuals have started clearing more land, using heavy equipment.Environmentalists claim that the initial allocation of land too was done arbitrarily.The land that is being cleared is the home to many plant and animal species and act as a corridor for animals to travel between Kumana and Yala National Parks.

Environmentalists claim that various powerful groups have taken advantage of the decision by the government to hand over the management of “Other State Forests (OSF)” to Divisional/Districts Secretaries.

                                        Cleared forest areas

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Secretary of the Ministry of Lands issued a circular (02/2021), “Survey and Allocation of Government Lands” on 06 August 2021 informing all the District Secretaries and Divisional Secretaries that the “Forests and wildlife conservations declared by the Director General of Forests in a Gazette and other Government lands other than the wildlife areas gazetted by the Director General of Wildlife should be kept in his custody.”

This gazette has been abused to release forests for various projects that are backed by politicians and their allies, environmentalists claim.Environmentalists also claim that the politicians have instigated the people of the area to seize land from the forest reserve. On 02 June a large group of people, travelling in hundreds of vehicles, entered the forest reserve and started to clear land.

Jayantha Wijesinghe from Rainforest Protectors of Sri Lanka said that the IGP had instructed regional police chiefs to stop the encroachment of the forest. However, a senior politician in the area has sided the encroachers.

“This police officer has justified the encroachment. Because this man holds a key post, it has been impossible to stop those who try to encroach the forest reserve. It’s time that the government immediately did something to stop this ecological disaster,” he said.