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Alleged soil dumping at Negombo Lagoon by Fisheries Min.: Environment Ministry orders GSMB probe

01 Apr 2021

  • No action against Devani after exchange with Lanza

In the wake of media attention being focused on a heated exchange between a firebrand public servant tasked with protecting forests and a state minister charged with road and physical infrastructure development over the alleged dumping of soil in the ecologically and biologically sensitive Negombo Lagoon, the Ministry of Environment has taken steps to investigate the alleged large soil dump linked to the Ministry of Fisheries’ Lagoon Development Project. This latest measure from the Environment Ministry comes in the backdrop of the said dump not being cleared despite legal action being taken against this project by the Gampaha District Forest Office. Secretary to the Environment Ministry Dr. Anil Jasinghe had stated that steps must be taken immediately to investigate whether the soil allegedly dumped by the Ministry of Fisheries in the Negombo Lagoon had been removed and whether sand could also have been washed away into the lagoon. Dr. Jasinghe had made these statements at a meeting held with the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB), as well as the secretaries to the Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Conservation and the State Ministry of Wildlife Protection, the Adoption of Safety Measures including the Construction of Electrical Fences and Trenches, and Reforestation and Forest Resource Development. He had further noted that the GSMB has been tasked with investigating the matter and that the latter is to hand over a report to him concerning the issue within a week, adding that future steps would be taken accordingly. According to Gampaha District Forest Officer Devani Jayatillaka, the soil had been dumped in the lagoon under the Ministry of Fisheries’ Lagoon Development Project in 2018. In 2019, forest officers had taken legal action against the project, requesting that the mound of soil be removed in order for the development project to be continued. However, she alleged that the soil dump has not been removed yet. Meanwhile, following media attention given to a heated dialogue between Jayatillaka and State Minister of Rural Roads and Other Infrastructure Nimal Lanza regarding the alleged soil dump at the Negombo Lagoon, the Department of Forest Conservation (DFC) told The Morning that no disciplinary action would be taken against Jayatillaka. “We understand that for decades now, forest officers have had to take a stern tone with politicians and other authorities on matters pertaining to the environment in order to ensure mutual understanding can be arrived at. Jayatillaka did just that in this instance,” DFC Deputy Conservator General Nishantha Edirisinghe told The Morning yesterday (1). At a meeting held at the Gampaha District Secretariat on 30 March attended by several cabinet and state ministers, video reports show Lanza questioning Jayatillaka on why she cannot simply approve the future progress of the Ministry of Fisheries’ Lagoon Development Project. However, Jayatillaka explained that approval could only be given if the soil was moved by the offending party – in this case, the project itself.

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