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Environment Minister seeks to amend gazette on Thalangama wetland to legalise temple
View(s):The Environment Minister has instructed the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) to amend a 2007 gazette that declares the Thalangama wetland to be an environmentally protected area (EPA) in order to legalise the presence of an unauthorised Buddhist temple within the zone, documents show.
The proposal has led to concerns that it will open the floodgates to widespread encroachments into environmentally and ecologically protected areas around the country.
Among those who oppose the move are traditional paddy farmers who cultivate in the area, including E O Samarakkody who wrote to the President last month in protest. His letter was acknowledged. He pointed out that the status of the Thalangama wetland was the subject of several ongoing court cases, including one against the Sri Shakyasinharama Viharaya which allegedly encroached on the wetland.
There are several court injunctions to stop illegal construction in Midigahakumbura of the Thalangama paddy field, Mr Samarakkody has written. There are also orders to evict the respective occupiers in addition to two ongoing cases related to the Thalangama wetland EPA. He says he understands that requests to amend the gazette are backed by a politician.
The unauthorised buildings are all within the wetland, built on illegally filled paddy lands. The CEA has also petitioned the Court regarding them.
The Hokandara Lake situated in the wetland. - Pic by M.A Pushpakumara
Last month, it was reported to the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development that the Chief Priest of the relevant temple met Environment Minister Naseer Ahamed for a discussion. While he had stopped all building activity in keeping with Court orders, he had made a request that he be allowed to continue running the institution at that location.
According to CEA documents, the Environment Minister had ordered the amendment of the gazette on the basis that the “bodhiya” and one building had existed before the proclamation of the Thalangama EPA, that the temple was a religious institution that carried out community activities, and that its buildings were on the border of the protected area.
Listed under the International Ramsar Convention, the Thalangama wetland has a manmade irrigation reservoir, paddy fields, canals, ponds and marshes. It is home to a vast array of birds, butterflies and dragonflies in addition to other fauna. It is also under threat from the proposed construction of the elevated highway from New Kelani Bridge to Athurugiriya.
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