By Ashanthi Warunasuriya
A powerful Minister and a top businessman in Colombo have been linked to the land filling at the Muthurajawela wetland sanctuary.
President Maithripala Sirisena had recently ordered a crackdown on damage caused to the environment in the Muthurajawela wetland sanctuary.
The Sunday Leader learns that the businessman had been involved in filling part of the Muthurajawela wetland sanctuary to build a hotel and a housing complex.
The businessman is in the top ring of the field and said to be spending a large sum of money for activities of powerful politicians in the country.
Therefore, he received the political support to carry on his businesses and it is alleged that the powerful Minister had granted the businessman a recommendation letter with the Minister’s signature requesting the Department of Agrarian Services that he be granted the paddy lands in question for development.
For the completion of the deal, he had allegedly given a five million bribe to a few Government officials. Upon receiving information in this regard, President Sirisena had instructed the relevant officials to return the money to the businessman.
The President ordered so just before leaving the country for Pakistan recently.
The President’s media division said that the President had ordered that all constructions, land filling and other activities which damage the environment in the Muthurajawela wetland sanctuary be suspended.
Environmentalists had recently raised concerns over moves by a private company to construct a housing scheme in the sanctuary
The Agrarian Department had no commissioner and an acting commissioner had been carrying out the services of the department for years.
A new commissioner was appointed recently and he had been working at the Immigration and Emigration Department (Visa section) as its in-charge prior to his new position. He lacks experience or knowledge of agricultural services. Reportedly, he had taken steps to arrest many fraud visa issuances when he was at the Immigration and Emigration Department and has been criticized from various quarters for his honest service.
According to the information The Sunday Leader received, the new commissioner is still studying the situation in his new department. We tried several times to communicate with the new commissioner but our attempts became futile.