Over 100 acres of Yala forest area cleared illegally

Over 100 acres of forest land belonging to the Yala wildlife reserve in Gal-Ara area has been cleared illegally, a senior Wildlife MInistry official said.  

He said investigations are underway on how the illegal clearing of forest land has been permitted and a report will be submitted to Wildlife Minister Mahinda Amaraweera later today. 

No suspects have been arrested by Wildlife officials, however, a backhoe involved in removal of huge palu, mara trees has been confiscated. 

On Monday, Wildlife Minister Mahinda Amaraweera ordered an investigation on the clearing of a section over the past few days.

Two teams from the Forest Conservation Department and the Wildlife Department were sent from Colombo on Monday morning to investigate and report.

A section of the forest in the Gal-Ara area had been cleared in the past five days using heavy machinery. Environmental groups charged that the area officials had been informed, but action was not taken.