MDA THREATENS TO SUE TREE PLANTING CAMPAIGNERS

Alienating Maduru - Oya forest reserve to foreign investors

Officials of the Mahaweli Development Authority who obstructed the tree planting campaign in the Maduru-oya forest reserve were met with tense argument by representatives of the Centre for Environmental Justice and other organizations .

The tree-planting campaign had been organized as a mark of protest against alienating 62,500 acres of land to a British firm for a sugar cane cultivation project. The officials warned that the treeplanting campaign organisers would be liable to face legal action for unauthorized entry to Mahaweli land.

The officials told the Convener of the Centre for Environmental Justice Hemantha Vithanage that it was illegal to launch a treeplanting campaign on Mahaweli land without prior permission.

Provincial Council Member and Convener of the Organisation to Protect the Rights of the Uva Wellassa People Samantha Vidyarathna explained them that Maduru-oya forest reserve was not within the purview of

Convener of the Centre for Environmental Justice Hemantha Vithanage that it was illegal to launch a treeplanting campaign on Mahaweli land without prior permission

the Mahaweli Development Authority and said his organization had obtained approval from the Badulla Range Forest Conservator for the campaign.

Representatives of the two organizations told the officials that the object of their campaign was to save the 62,500-acre land belonging to the people of Uva.