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Cabinet rejects removal of Wilpattu’s ‘Protected Areas’
View(s):The Cabinet, on Tuesday, rejected a proposal to remove several acres of the protected Wilpattu National Park (NP), where a church is located, from ‘Protected Area’ status, an issue that was exclusively highlighted in the Sunday Times two weeks ago. The proposal put forward by Tourism Development, Wildlife and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga, to de-gazette (remove from ‘Protected’ status) the Pallekandal area within the NP, had been discussed extensively at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, with some Ministers strongly opposing such a move, the Sunday Times learns.
The Sunday Times report of August 25
The Sunday Times of August 25, in a Page 1 news item headlined “Wildlife Minister to remove ‘Protected’ status for areas from Wilpattu Park”, exclusively reported the serious concerns raised by conservationists over the proposal. Conservationists reiterated that, if parts of the Wilpattu NP are de-gazetted, it would set a “bad precedent”, encouraging the removal of ‘Protected’ status from other areas as well, where religious sites are located. This would have a major adverse impact on the country.
Minister Amaratunga’s attempts to de-gazette “6 acres and 3 roods of the Wilpattu NP, where the St. Anthony’s Church is sited along with the access road to the church, around 1 km in distance from the turn-off at the Suruwama junction, on the old Puttalam Road”, came while there is litigation in the two Superior courts.
The case in the Supreme Court is challenging the construction of a road through the Wilpattu NP, while the other in the Court of Appeal is with regard to the unlawful and unregulated religious festivities taking place at the Pallekandal Church. The cases have been filed by the Environmental Foundation (Guarantee) Ltd. (EFL) and the Wildlife & Nature Protection Society (WNPS). The Minister is a Respondent in both cases.
The Wilpattu NP is home to 284 animal species, including 21 endemics (native plants or animals restricted to certain areas) and 30 nationally-threatened species. The elephant (Elephas maximus), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) and leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) are some of the endangered mammals found here.