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Kelani river polluters: Report to COPE in February

27 Dec 2020

By Sarah Hannan The committee that was to look into preparing a mechanism to reduce the pollution in the Kelani River, is to present a detailed study report to the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) by the end of February, it is learnt.   Given the extent of the pollution of the river, the Ministry of Environment is said to have taken the lead on the investigations, as there are several factors that are to be taken into consideration before action is to be taken.   Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Ministry of Environment Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe stated: “We are looking into the matter at a macro level now. Since we have also launched the ‘Surakimu Ganga’ river conservation programme that is to cover all the major rivers in Sri Lanka, we have included all stakeholders from various ministries and government institutions and appointed committees on a national level, district level, and divisional secretariat level to conduct studies on river water pollution.”   According to Dr. Jasinghe, in the case of the Kelani River, the committee that is appointed to look into the perpetrators and take action, had discussed the feasibility of imposing penalties to these industries and illegal residents as well for releasing pollutants.  “We need to also look at giving these people a solution to the problem as well. For instance, the people that live in the embankments of the Kelani River need to be allocated suitable dwellings and are to be relocated. While the industries need to be given a penalty, we will have to also look at advising them on installing purification plants, as we cannot just shut these industries down, affecting the jobs of many employees,” Dr. Jasinghe pointed out.   The national committee has already initiated the discussions into reducing pollution in rivers, and as Dr. Jasinghe noted, the district development committees and the divisional secretariat committees that are to look into river conservation are to be briefed early next year.   Meanwhile, COPE Chairman Dr. Charitha Herath, when contacted by The Sunday Morning, said: “We gave instructions to the Secretaries of the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Water Supply to appoint a committee to look into these unlicensed factories and present COPE with a detailed report on the actions that were taken and the extent of the pollution the factories had caused to the Kelani River.”   According to Dr. Herath, the ministries have been given a period of three months to submit a report on the findings.   COPE, in November, inquired about the 205 factories that were continuing to operate even after their environment protection licences (EPLs) were suspended along with the 17 factories that were discovered to be established without any of the local authorities’ or the Central Environmental Authority’s (CEA) knowledge.   The status of EPLs relating to 2,946 factories operating under the A and B categories, situated near the Kelani River, was reviewed. 41 category A factories that were audited were identified as high polluters that were causing more environmental risk, which operated with no EPLs. Meanwhile, 205 factories were still operating even after their EPLs were suspended. In addition to that, there were 17 factories that were not even listed under the CEA or the local government councils.  


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