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Forest officers team up with STF to combat felling
The Forest Department and the Special Task Force have joined forces to combat illicit felling in Sri Lanka’s dwindling forest reserves, Environment Minister Susil Premajayantha said.
He said that in terms of a new proposal from his ministry, the STF and Forest Department officers would carry out joint raids to arrest persons involved in felling trees illegally.
The minister said that the move followed complaints that forest officers had not been able to act on information received about illegal deforestation or felling.
“For each province, there will be a combined team comprising STF and Forest Department officers and they would respond to complaints they receive on a specially provided hotline,” Mr. Premajayantha said.
The minister said the STF was brought in to streamline the raids and the forest officers to be deployed along with them would not be from the area under investigation but from the head office.
Law and Order Ministry Secretary Nanda Mallawaarachchi said preparations were underway to deploy the STF teams. “We have identified areas where large-scale deforestation is taking place with vast swathes of forests being cleared for cannabis cultivation,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times learns that Assistant Government Agents have been instructed to set up vigilance committees to alert authorities about illegal tree felling.
In one of the recent detections, the Environment Ministry found that some 700 acres of state and private lands in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts had been cleared illegally by a businessman. He has felled valuable trees including ebony, according to officials who said investigations by the Environment Ministry and the Forest Department are underway.
In another incident, a Kurunegala businessman who claimed to have a licence issued by the Road Development Authority (RDA) to collect unlimited quantities of soil for road construction projects in the northern and eastern province was found to be felling trees. The RDA later denied that it had issued a licence to clear the forest.
Valuable trees, including Satin and Palu had been felled in addition to clearing the jungles.
Some of the northern areas where the forests have been cleared are Kalwadukulam tank area (200 acres), Akkarayankulam (150 acres) and Iranamadu (150 acres).