Silent sentinel mired in controversy
All eyes on this tree: Crudia zeylanica. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
A “rare” tree dubbed as ‘critically endangered’ which has stood the test of time like a sentinel close to the Daraluwa Railway Station in Gampaha is mired in controversy as it faces axing or translocation to make way for the Central Expressway Project of the Road Development Authority (RDA).
Many people including Gampaha District Forest Officer (DFO) Devani Jayatilake have raised their voices in protest, seeking the safeguarding of this Crudia zeylanica tree and Buddhist monks converged on the site on Wednesday to wrap a saffron robe around it. This was as a businessman went public offering his property for the Daraluwa tree to be translocated there.
While reportedly, Ms. Jayatilake has been muzzled, the Sunday Times cleared the confusion from the important crux of the issue in an attempt to get a bird’s eye view of what it is all about.
How did the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the proposed Central Expressway Project covering the Daraluwa area miss out on this tree and does this tree have a special place under the law?
With environmental lawyer Jagath Gunawardena pointing out that Crudia zeylanica is a “protected” tree under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO), an Environmental Ministry source said that the responsibility of ensuring that the law is implemented falls on the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).
Looking closely at the FFPO, Mr. Gunawardena said that there should not be any confusion with regard to the FFPO and the Daraluwa tree. The law is very clear – Crudia zeylanica is protected under Section 42 of the FFPO which comes under the mandate of the DWC, while Section 66 of the FFPO also empowers the Forest Department and Police to intervene when a need arises.
No tree of Crudia zeylanica, whether on public or private property, can be destroyed. It has to be protected where it is standing (in-situ) and there is absolutely no relevance whether it is rare or not or there are other trees of the same species or not, he said.
Other sources raised queries as to how the EIA which would have been a mandatory requirement for the Central Expressway Project “missed” documenting this tree.
“It can happen,” said Himesh Jayasinghe who was subsequently a part of the team that conducted a detailed study on the mitigatory measures needed for the fauna (animals) and flora (plants) that would be impacted by the Central Expressway Project.
This detailed study followed the main EIA after which the Central Expressway Project had been approved in September 2016, by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), the Sunday Times learns.
Mr. Jayasinghe said that when the main EIA was being done, this Daraluwa tree could not be identified as there was a lack of information. However, when he was conducting a detailed study in 2017 and 2018, the tree had flowers and fruits and he compared those with specimens in the herbarium of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya and came to the conclusion that it was Crudia zeylanica.
He then informed the RDA that conservation efforts were needed with regard to the Daraluwa tree.
When contacted, the Deputy Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya, Dr. Achala Attanayake told the Sunday Times that while this legume-type branching tree is part of the Fabaceae family, there are five more of the same type in addition to the two at Daraluwa, at the Henarathgoda Botanical Gardens as well as Bemmulla, Doranagoda South and Hendimahara in the Gampaha district and Kaduwela in the Colombo district.
Explaining that the Daraluwa tree had not been “botanized” at this spot because it was not in a place that is usually studied, she said this is how it would have been missed.
“When it flowered and we were informed by Mr. Jayasinghe in 2018, we studied it and took some propagating material back to Peradeniya where we have nurtured about 20 seedlings and saplings. These we are hoping to reintroduce to similar habitats and also the Henarathgoda Botanical Gardens where we have six more seedlings,” said Dr. Attanayake.
Earlier too, when they were working with the RDA on a conservation project for three other plants – Wrightia puberula, Combretum acuminatum and Vatica paludosa – in the same area, they had taken a few plants from Daraluwa to conserve those as well.
Explaining that the Central Expressway Project was approved on September 7, 2016, after the EIA report had gone through the set processes, CEA sources said that the RDA, once it had finalized the route (“trace”) that the expressway would take, submitted the proposal to the CEA around May 2015. The CEA then screened the project to check whether it required an EIA as stipulated under Gazette 772/22 issued in June 1993.
Having verified that it had to have an EIA, the CEA called up a preliminary meeting with all relevant stakeholders including the DWC, the Forest Department, the Irrigation Department and the National Building Research Organization (NBRO), to discuss the project with the RDA.
Thereafter, the CEA instructed the RDA to provide an EIA report with regard to the project impact as well as what mitigatory measures would be taken, while providing the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the team which would have to perform the task, it is learnt.
“Once the EIA report was submitted by the RDA in May 2016, it was held up for public comment in writing for 30 working days as well as submitted to Divisional Secretariats, local government bodies (such as Municipal and Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas) and the CEA’s Regional Offices (Gampaha, Kurunegala and Matale) in all the areas that the expressway would go through,” a source said.
The Sunday Times understands that this EIA was conducted by Sri Jayewardenepura University’s Centre for Sustainability, Department of Forestry & Environmental Science.
Another CEA source said that there were two public comments but they were not related to the Daraluwa tree. Thereafter, the EIA report was submitted to a CEA-appointed Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) comprising all stakeholders to check whether the mitigatory measures suggested by the RDA were acceptable, following which the CEA granted approval for the Central Expressway Project.
When asked whether any recent project had been rejected by the CEA due to serious EIA concerns, the source said one was the Upper Kotmale Hydropower Project of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).
Sometimes, the CEA approves an EIA with strong conditions, the source said, adding that when construction or project implementation begins, the CEA has to be informed, so that it could monitor whether such conditions are being followed.
With regard to what happened to the Upper Kotmale Hydropower Project, environmentalists said that the Environmental Ministry Secretary allowed it to slither through a loophole in the same Gazette which stipulates the projects which need an EIA.
They were vocal that the contributory cause of such an issue was because the CEA came under the Environment Minister and had no independence.
Meanwhile, the CEA source added that in November 2019, an individual informed the CEA that an extinct tree was under threat because of the Central Expressway Project and it in turn informed the RDA to look into the matter, with the support of the DWC and the Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya.
| Crudia zeylanica is not going extinct: DWC | |
| Crudia zeylanica is not going extinct and with regard to the Daraluwa tree, when considering the importance of the Central Expressway Project for the country, the Director-General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) could look at the pros and cons and make a decision to translocate it elsewhere, said a DWC source. The source said that such a decision would not be taken without due consideration and already the DWC has sent out officers to check out this species and they have found that it is thriving elsewhere in Gampaha including close to the Attanagalu Oya. “Just because we remove this single tree, the Crudia zeylanica wanda wenne ne (will not become extinct). Without cutting the Daraluwa tree, we can translocate it with the support of experts,” the source added. Attempts by the Sunday Times to contact the Road Development Authority failed.
|