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SJB to challenge UDA’s Muthurajawela marsh acquisition

04 Nov 2021

  • To file writ at Supreme Court today
BY Pamodi Waravita The main parliamentary Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), will file a writ petition at the Supreme Court (SC) today (5) against the extraordinary gazette released on 7 October 2021 allowing the Urban Development Authority (UDA) to acquire the Muthurajawela marshland stretching from Peliyagoda to Negombo. “We will be filing a writ petition at the SC regarding this gazette, as it completely violates the fundamental rights of families who have been living in this area for generations. We also eventually hope to file a fundamental rights (FR) petition regarding the matter,” SJB Parliamentarian Dr. Kavinda Jayawardana told The Morning yesterday (4). Speaking at a press conference held yesterday, SJB MP Harin Fernando said that many grama niladhari (GN) divisions in Negombo, including Tudella, Seeduwa, and Nilsirigama, will be heavily affected by the said gazette. “When Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith said that the Muthurajawela wetland needs to be protected, he meant that it needs to be protected under the Department of Wildlife Conservation. This Government does not care about anything. If you look through the Google Maps app on your phone, it shows as to how many residents and churches are there in this land area that the gazette has demarcated,” claimed Fernando. “From what I know, this has already been sold and the deal has already been done where money has exchanged hands. We are warning this Government and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa to not mess with this land where Catholics are living. Rajapaksa is challenging the wrong places in the Gampaha District,” he added. He added that government MPs must also stand against this issue, regardless of political affiliations. “We in Wattala, Negombo, and Ja-Ela will be on the road to fight against this. I invite Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MPs to join us, including those from the Gampaha District who are not even given a meeting with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to discuss this issue,” he added. The aforementioned gazette states that the UDA urgently requires the Muthurajawela marshland for the purpose of conservation by preventing the unauthorised filling of and encroachment on its land plots. However, concerns have arisen about the UDA’s true intentions in the area, including allegations in early October of this year that a 30-acre development project had taken place in the wetland with UDA approval. “We feel that this Government is not listening to the people. The President has published a gazette to vest this entire area, where people have been living for hundreds of years, to the UDA. Who is there in the UDA? Can they vest these lands while they are in their air-conditioned rooms? Have they asked about this from the local MPs? When I asked a local MP about this gazette, he said that he does not know. That means the local people have voted for a fool,” said Archbishop Cardinal Ranjith last month, while addressing the media about the issue. Although The Morning’s attempts to contact UDA Chairman Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Udaya Nanayakkara yesterday proved futile, Nanayakkara had previously told the media that the fishermen of Negombo would not be affected due to the gazette and that the residents living within the sanctuary would not be evicted.


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