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Why should UDA get involved in Muthurajewela when it has no track record of conservation: Environmentalists
- Society for the protection of the sanctuary files petition against the UDA takeover, wants gazette completely revoked
- Society president says rackets going on within sanctuary need to be put an end to, but questions ability of the UDA to do what 11 other institutions combined couldn’t do
- UDA claims long-term plans are to uplift the lives of area people while conserving the ecosystems in the wetland
- Environment Minister claims no commercial activities will be allowed within the sanctuary boundaries; says UDA Act is more powerful and all illegal commercial encroachments could be reclaimed
The decision, while gazetted on October 7 this year, was only revealed on October 21. “Since we didn’t have time to go to the Supreme Court and file a case, we went to the Human Rights Commission and obtained another month to file a Fundamental Rights claim against the move in the Supreme Court,” said SPMS president Anil Jayamaha.
“We want the gazette completely revoked,” he said. Environmentalists were of the opinion that the involvement of the UDA was unnecessary in the matter when the Wildlife Conservation Department (WCD), Agriculture Ministry, and the Land Reforms Commission all had the appropriate mechanisms to ensure conservation. “The laws regulated by these institutions are what the Police need to enforce!” he insisted. The UDA does not have a track record of conservation, Mr Jayamaha noted, adding that this was what Muthurajawela needs right now.
According to Mr Jayamaha, the WCD had failed to abide by a court decision passed in 2017 ordering them to demarcate the area belonging to the sanctuary. The Sunday Times contacted the WCD for their reasons but received no response. While posts had been set out around the perimeters when the area was declared a sanctuary in 1996, these had been removed in the subsequent years by unidentified parties.
Muthurajawela had unfortunately become the dumping site of building debris – a racket that involved contractors bringing broken building waste and dumping it into the marshy lands of the sanctuary and causing irreparable harm and clogging the natural waterways which in turn exacerbate flood risks.
Mr Jayamaha also noted that the gazette’s instructions to pay compensation for landholders whose lands will be acquired will only benefit illegal commercial land encroachers who have purchased the lands for “dirt-cheap” through political affiliations and forgeries. “That in itself is another deal that these people are making.”
He insisted that the multiple rackets going on within the sanctuary need to be put an end to, but questioned the ability of the UDA to do what 11 other institutions combined couldn’t. The 11 institutions that previously oversaw the area include the Central Environmental Authority, the WCD, the LRC, local government authorities, and other government institutions – all of whom are respondents to the SPMS FR Petition.
The UDA has, however, marked out a tentative map of approximately 6,000 hectares through GPS mapping systems and is currently visiting Grama Niladhari Divisions in the area to present their plans. “We told them we were completely against it and only wanted the relevant laws that were already in place to be enacted.” Mr Jayamaha holds that authorities need to demarcate the boundaries, facilitate agriculture on the relevant lands within the sanctuary, and teach residents how to live in harmony with the ecosystem. “There is an environmental unit in the Pamunugama Police with its own officer-in-charge; so all these resources are in place, and just need to be deployed,” he noted.
Area residents are also concerned that the UDA acquisition will cost them their homes. “There are 72 churches and 10,000 families living within the area apart from the precious wetland that is at risk of destruction,” Mr Jayamaha continued. “The proposals like the Bopitiya Disneyland and the golf green that one businessman tried to build will not enhance the lives of the poor who actually live here – we owe children better things than concrete jungles,” he said.
However, Minister of Environment, Mahinda Amaraweera reiterated to the Sunday Times that absolutely no commercial activities will be allowed within the sanctuary boundaries. He clarified that the only reason behind the gazette was because the UDA Act was more powerful and would therefore ensure a smoother acquisition process through which all illegal commercial encroachments could be reclaimed. “The UDA also has the finances that other institutions don’t, so this will provide the sanctuary with invaluable resources that will speed up its conservation,” the Minister insisted adding that no “golf courses” will be allowed to be built on the land.
The Minister noted that the UDA will carry out conservation activities like the building of irrigation canals and the restoration of debris-dumped land plots. The ownership of the sanctuary will then be reverted to the WCD in order to declare the area as a Ramsar Wetland.
UDA Director General Prasad Ranaweera confirmed that the long-term goal was wetland conservation. “This is a multi-stage process that we are just at the inception of,” he noted as he added that the first purpose was to put a stop to the illegal encroachments that were increasing daily. The UDA has begun the demarcation with the acquisition boundary through the Surveyor-General.
He noted that the UDA had tried to leave homes out of the demarcations as much as possible, but clarified that residents will not be asked to leave their homes. The UDA plans to reconstruct the drainage systems in the schemes within the sanctuary and upgrade the sanitation facilities available to residents. The area is under constant flood risk as a result of badly maintained drainage systems. However, this is as far as the developments in the area will go as Mr Ranaweera reiterated that no commercial buildings or constructions will be allowed within the sanctuary. The schemes too will be uplifted but will under no circumstances be expanded. While homeowners will be given legal deeds for their properties, lands that were illegally filled will not be granted deeds. Only homes will be preserved and developed.
He added that the empowerment of farming in the area was also a priority. “Right now the lands available for farming are completely unusable because of the debris that has been dumped there, so we will be removing this and making the land suitable for agricultural activities.”
Once the UDA’s preliminary studies are complete, the activities allowed within the wildlife zones and the lagoon area too will be prescribed, as the UDA hopes the move will restart the currently dormant fisheries industry in the area.
“Our plans are to uplift the lives of the people in the area while conserving the ecosystems in the wetland,” he confirmed.
While the UDA did have a tentative timeline and deadlines for the relevant stages of the project, Mr Ranaweera noted that things were currently at a standstill due to the opposition raised.
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