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| Claims,
counter claims and confusion over Muthurajawela The UNP MP Olitha Premathiratne allegedly involved in the land grab has openly declared that he would disregard the attempts to stop him and that his aim was to set up an 'entertainment city' which would help hundreds of under privileged in the area. The land grab drama started off with the MP himself distributing a set of forms to prospective land owners having to declare their income and other basic details so that land could be allocated to them. They were asked to pay Rs. 20 for a form and told that 25 applicants would be considered daily and were advised against paying bribes to anyone to obtain the blocks of land. Thousands of persons not only from Seeduwa but also from places like Grandpass, Modara, Gampaha, Katana, Jaela and Wattala were among those who flocked to Mr. Premathirartne's office to collect the forms. Thereafter the people were told to enter the land which incudes part of the Muthurajewela nature reserve, the section of the land owned by the managing director of an international school and part of the land owned by the Catholic church for a project where displaced persons are to be housed. Since the encroachment began over 2000 temporary structures have been put up in the area and in the past few days more and more people have been moving into the area carrying planks, galvanized sheets, concrete stones and other material for more sheds expected to be put up. The encroaching has caused destruction to the wet lands and the encroachers have destroyed at least 100,000 pineapple trees, 2000 coconut trees and another 2000 banana trees. Even the project by the Catholic church known as 'Samata Sarana' has been affected due to this encroachment as those who have trespassed on this have demarcated it for their use. Mr. Paul Perera who owns a section of the land which has been encroached on told The Sunday Times that it was on May 30 that he heard Mr. Premathiratne had launched a Housing and land project for the poor. 'The people from early last month first began to enter the section of the land owned by the Catholic church. Though the priest in charge of the project by the church strongly resisted, they continued moving into the adjoining land owned by me', he said. Mr. Perera
owns 99 acres of land in this area and had already obtained Board
of Investment approval for a housing project in partnership with
a British company. 'My investors
were worried when they heard about the encroachment', he said. Meanwhile Mr. Perera and his brother-in-law, an Army officer stationed in Vavuniya, have been receiving death threats from supporters of Mr. Premathiratne since their complaint to the Police and the Ministers. The Environmental Foundation Ltd, an NGO had already taken the matter to courts on the issue claiming that a large number of people had moved into a block of land 300 acres in extent which comes under the 'Muthurajawela Sanctuary' and are continuing to carry out illegal activities causing irreversible and irreparable disturbance, damage and destruction to the wildlife, biodiversity and environment of the sanctuary. They say that as part of the Wetland Conservation Project introduced in 1991 by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) the Muthurajawela sanctuary is a protected area and point out that Muthurajawela functions as a 'green lung' for the metropolitan area. Despite complaints
by environmental organisations, the church and the private land
owner the Seeduwa police are yet to evict the persons from the area. But, until Friday night no action had been taken to remove the encroachers, a resident of the area said. Instead of any evicting taking place more people are seen erecting permanent structures with even a hardware shop putting up temporary sales point on the spot. Planks, bricks and concrete stones were available for sale while many residents in the vicinity have been turning their gardens into temporary timber depots. While many government agencies are remaining silent about the encroachment with nobody prepared to take any action in this regard, the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment Thosapala Hewage told The Sunday Times that this issue was very serious and that the Environment Minister, Rukman Senanayake had taken up the matter with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. 'Nobody, not even a politician or anyone else can forcibly occupy state land. The CEA has a masterplan to develop the wetlands and no one is allowed to enter the land and destroy it", he said. Director of the Wildlife Department, H.M.D.C. Herath said that the issue does not come under his purview and it was upto the CEA to take action. Mr. Olitha Premathiratne himself was not available for comment, but had earlier told a group of journalists that he would not respond to the allegations made against him, but would continue with his project to set up an 'entertainment city' in the area. Another
alleged land grab
A large house is already being constructed on this land. While electricity has been supplied and an approach road to the property laid. JVP parliamentarian S.K. Subasinghe told The Sunday Times that the MP, with the support of the Hingurakgoda Divisional Secretary encroached this state land and had obtained the registration in his sister's name. Mr. Subasinghe said that though they have protested about this encroachment, so far no action had been taken. Do
four sprats make a shark? The public see the government's decision to expel, four local councilors accused of murder and corruption, as an attempt to cover up the unruly behaviour of some politicians against whom complaints have been recorded at police stations. The UNP’s disciplinary committee, headed by Minister Karu Jayasuriya, has in reality done little to discipline Ministers and MPs though repeatedly stating that due disciplinary action would be taken against the wrong-doers. More than 15 incidents where Ministers or MPs have allegedly breached the law and escaped punishment have been recorded so far this year. When talking of Ministers accused of bad conduct and misdeeds, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Minister Mahinda Wijesekara grabs the spotlight for allegedly misbehaving or acting illegally on four different occasions. He has been accused of chopping down the 300-year-old Mara tree, of enormous archaeological value, at the historic Matara Fort, the alleged breaching of the Nilwala River bund and allegedly threatening journalist Lucien Rajakarunanayake with death. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had asked the Minister for a report on the cutting down of the Mara tree and the police too had submitted a report to the Attorney General but to date no action has been taken against the Minister involved. In the latest incident Minister Wijesekara was widely criticised over chiding his Ministry Secretary and abusing him in bad language claiming the secretary objected to a decision made by Mr. Wijesekera to appoint a person rejected by the selection panel, as director of a Coast Conservation Department project. Minister of Housing and Plantation Infrastructure Arunmugam Thondaman is another among those accused of bad conduct. Apart from the incident where the Minister is said to have stormed into the Borella police station and had sat in OIC's chair, he is also alleged to have assaulted the staff of a well-known hotel in Nuwara Eliya, in the presence of a senior police officer who appeared to approve the Minister's action. The Minister apparently had been angered when the staff mistakenly offered him the wrong menu. Mr. Olitha Premathiratne representing the Gampaha District is another parliamentarian accused of bad conduct. On May 31 this year Mr. Premathiratne had walked into the Seeduwa police station and forcibly released one of his supporters who had been arrested over a motor accident. At present he is at the centre of another controversy where he had allegedly encouraged his supporters to encroach on a vast tract of land belonging to the Muthurajawela sanctuary and distributing it among the squatters. (see separate story in this page). So far the government had been unable to pursue any disciplinary action against Mr. Premathiratne for the alleged devilry at Seeduwa police station although a report on the incident had been submitted to the Attorney General. The Disciplinary Committee of the UNF Government had also ignored the unruly behaviour of Colombo MP Lilantha Perera and Hambanthota MP Dilip Vedaarachchi who have also come under fire from the public for their acts. Parliamentarian Lilantha Perera had allegedly assaulted two police officers at a motor race track in Nuwara Eliya on April 20 and the two officers had to be hospitalised having sustained serious injuries. In this instance the Party did take disciplinary action against him, though the police had not pursued the case. On May 25 MP Vedaarachchi created havoc at a wedding reception held at the Hilton hotel causing the ceremony to be disrupted and even embarrassing the wedding couple. He is alleged to have assaulted some of the hotel staff and smashed plates and other tableware belonging to the hotel. Later on being escorted out of the hotel by his security staff he is alleged to have fired in the air. Often the police has been at the receiving end of bad conduct by Ministers and MPs. At least on three occasions this year MPs representing the Government had stormed into police stations causing a disturbance and assaulting the police. In another incident parliamentarian A. A. Wijetunga from the Ratnapura district is accused of rushing into the Kalawana police station and demanding the transfer of a traffic policeman who had faulted some of his supporters. |
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