‘Land allotment causing environmental damage to Hanthana Environmental Protection Zone’

The Hanthana Conservation Organization says that land allotment is being carried out in the Hanthana Environmental Protection Zone causing great environmental damage.

The Secretary of that institution Amith Senanayake stated that a group of officials of the Janatha Estate Development Board are arbitrarily allocating these lands without the approval of any state institution.

Senanayake made this comment at a media briefing held in Kandy yesterday (21).

He said that these lands are being allotted at a height of 1500-2500 feet in the Hanthana area and that people should rally against the arbitrary destruction of the environment by Government officials.

The Central Provincial Director of the Central Environmental Authority K.P.Welikanna said that the Janatha Estate Development Board had submitted an application to the Central Environmental Authority regarding the allotment of these lands and that steps are being taken to allot them illegally without any approval.