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Rape of Muthurajawela continues despite Minister’s promises

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By Ifham Nizam

More than 4,000 wells had been affected due to pollution in and around the Muthurajwela Wetlands Sanctuary, Member of the Archbishop’s Committee and environmentalist Dinusha Nanayakkara said.

“More than 100 factories have been set up here without any Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), resulting in water, air and noise pollution,” he told journalists during a field visit on Tuesday.

Nanayakkara, who is a resident of Bopitiya, Nugapitiya, said politicians, underworld figures and officials had joined hands in clearing, demarcating and filling sanctuary lands for real estate speculators.

The media team witnessed a bridge put up by land grabbers.

Nanayakkara also questioned the basis as it was said that only the Urban Development Authority (UDA) was capable of securing the wetland as both the UDA and the Department of Forest Conservation were state institutions.

Out of the 1,284 hectares, 500 hectares had been targeted by various groups, and 700 hectares had been destroyed within the past 20 years. With the current trend the remaining area would be cleared within two months, Nanayakkara added.

The Director, Centre for Environmental Justice, Janaka Withanage told The Island  that due to four different cases pending in courts at present, some property business organisations were taking advantage of loopholes.

Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera recently said that the area would be developed as a tourist destination.

Amaraweera said that the development of wetlands would take place under a joint venture involving several entities, including the Urban Development Authority, Central Environmental Authority, Environment Ministry, Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, and the Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Surakimu Sri Lanka Organization, Chairman Ven. Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara Thera recently charged that a private company was attempting to establish a project in the area, destroying it.

The Thera said he strongly believed that such attempts should be defeated by further securing the wetland area as a national sanctuary under the Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Senior Environmental lawyer and activist Dr. Jagath Gunawardena said that a sanctuary should remain under the Department of Wildlife Conservation and bringing it under the UDA was unacceptable.



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