75 acres Sanctuary land around Yodha wewa unlawfully appropriated for Basil’s Hotel project –legal action unavailing

thursday 27 of October 2011

(Lanka-e-News -27.Oct.2011, 6.30PM) 75 acres of forest land around the land of Yoda Wewa is being cleared for a Hotel project of Minister Basil Rajapakse. As this was unlawfully carried out, the Wild life conservation Dept. filed legal action against it. But , lo and behold ! , the Minister Basil himself has takien care of the legal process against him! - the most vexatious and treacherous part of this unlawful project .

This 75 acres forest land is situated around the Yoda wewa in the Manthe district secretarial division of Mannar ,and it has been now exposed that this project under the Irrigation and Water management Ministry is illegal. After obtaining permission purportedly to release the water of the Yoda wewa , this Hotel project had been illegally begun by clearing 1.5 kilometers length and half meter breadth strip of the forest land. This action has been taken by the Engineer , S M A Nelugolla of the Irrigation Dept . Murunkan ,under his monitoring .

Legal action had been filed by the Wild life conservation Dept. against this unlawful clearance of the forest under case No. A R 173 in the Magistrate court ,in which legal case , S M A Nelugolla , the Irrigation Dept.Engineer is the respondent. But it is revealed that this action has been distorted to suit the aims and objectives of Basil Rajapakse under the ‘uthuru wasanthaya’ program. Consequently , the attendance of court and filing of answer in this case by the respondents are being ignored .The engineer is now engaged in efforts to unlawfully keep away from courts and take no notice of filing an answer which is incumbent on him. It is learnt that this forest has been cleared without proper legal approval for a Hotel project of the Minister Basil Rajapakse.

This land around the Yoda wewa extending in 4330 hectares had been declared as coming under the Animals and trees protection Ordinance of 24-09-1954, and is recognized as a most special and precious wild life habitat.

This gross violation of the provision 7 ( c) of the Animals and Trees protection Ordinance 1937 (2) as amended last by 2009 section 22 enacted by the State, by the Govt. itself is a serious ‘crime ‘ against the State amounting to treason. The clearance of this forest area by the Govt. is therefore absolutely unlawful and not permissible under any circumstance. According to the gazette notification No. 869/14 published on 23 Feb. 1995 under the National environment Act as amended in 1980 (47) , within 100 meters of or immediately outside the boundary of a sanctuary , if any development project is to be commenced , a written approval based on environment shall be obtained. All these regulations and laws have been completely ignored and cast aside on the intense pressures exerted by Minister Basil Rajapakse on the Irrigation and water management Dept.