Cases of encroachment in reservation lands slows down: FCD

The Forest Conservation Department (FCD) said nearly five acres of the proposed forest conservation lands reserved under the government's forest conservation plans in the Ratnapura District had been cleared this year.

According to the Department, reports of a land exceeding half an acre in extent government reservations in the Ratnapura Distrct and about 1.5 acres in the Kalawana area had been cleared by unauthorised persons this year.

An individual who had cleared around half an acre of reservation land in Bambarabotuwa in Ratnapura was ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 100,000/- by the Additional Magistrate Ratnapura. Around 10 similar cases had been prosecuted in the Ratnapura District this year and the accused fined.

According to W. D. N. R. Prasad, District Ranger of the Ratnapura Wi l d l i f e Conservation Department, Reservation Lands comprise 75,169 hectares. Of this, around 58,317 hectares are covered by thick jungle, 13,548 by scrub jungle, while savanah wildlands cover 3,304 hectares.

He added that when compared to the number of cases of illegally cleared land prosecuted in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the number of prosecutions have decreased significantly.

Officers of the Forest Conservation Department pointed out that, despite there being a significant drop in the number of cases prosecuted this year, financial benefits provided by the government for cultivation of minor exports such as pepper, cardamom, cloves etc, to persons living in the vicinity of reservations had contributed heavily toward the clearing of forests during the past decade. Text and pix by Apsara Wijesuriya