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Researcher pays dearly for Horton Plains native plants
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Three people, including a professor, who illegally collected samples of 12 indigenous plants in the buffer zone (pera kalapaya) of the National Horton Plains in Nuwara Eliya have been fined a total Rs 420,000 by the Nuwara Eliya Magistrate’s Court.
The senior professor and two others were accused of uprooting four kinds of Nelu plants and seven kinds of orchids in the Horton Plains in the buffer zone on the Palpita Road at the entrance to Horton Plains National Park.
They appeared before Nuwara Eliya Magistrate Pamoda Jayasekara on June 20, facing seven charges.
The three accused had been detected by P K M Pradeep Kumar, a park keeper and T V Dayaratne, range officer H M N Jayarane, wildlife officer Charitha Wanninayake, and driver Sunil Hathurusinghe.
The court ordered the accused to pay Rs20,000 for each charge, Rs140,000 for each, amounting to Rs420,000 in all.
Tools they used for uprooting the plants were confiscated.
Tools used for uprooting the plants were confiscated
Pix and text by Shelton Hettiarachchi