Fire in Muthurajawela reserve destroys many acres of mangroves
A fire that has erupted in the Muthurajawela nature reserve has caused heavy damages to the mangrove lands and biodiversity surrounding the environment.
National Coordinator for the Center for Environment and Nature Studies, Ravindra Kariyawasam has said that the fire has destroyed close to four acres of mangroves in the nature reserve.
Kariyawasam has further noted that there is a belief that the fire has been set by some elements with the intention of encroaching on the lands in the nature reserve.
The area is also being used to dump garbage from the Wattala/Ja Ela/Ekala areas.
A Forest Department official, Devanee Jayathileka recently locked horns with political powers in the area to protest the mangroves in the area that is now affected by the fire.
Jayathileka spoke against attempts to destroy mangroves in the nature reserve in order to construct a playground.
“The mangrove land is a part of the forest reserve and we cannot allow it to be used for any type of construction. There are already illegal constructions and habitation in the forest reserve,” she charged, adding that Sri Lanka was already short of 10,000 hectares of mangrove land.
(Source: The Morning)
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Who did this? JVP/UNP pointing the finger at Phottuwa. Someone might have set fire and who are those culprits? Is Photuwa so naive to do this at this crucial juncture? Who is benefiting from this? Looking at the posts floating in Social media (posted by JVP/UNP) someone is trying get mileage out of this!
Amarakoon,
The answer is obvious.
There is an expert Moslem leader who is good at creating settlements in reserves.
Dear Mr Amarakoon and Mr Andrada,
The identity of the culprits will come to light soon enough when we see the ultimate outcome of the affected area.
Ideally, as mangroves are protected, destroyed mangrove areas should be replaced with new mangrove.
If this does not happen here, fair to assume devils at play……