8 June 2022 09:45 am Views - 167
By Kelum Bandara
The Forest Resources Conservationists’ Organisation is up in arms against a proposal by Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to assign paddy lands belonging to the Forest Conservation Department in the Northern and Eastern provinces to farmers for cultivation.
Its General Secretary Lalith Gamage has written to the Minister emphasising that such a decision would trigger a crisis given the nature of the forested lands maintained by the department and the complexity of laws and regulations governing activities on them.
The Association said these lands, held by land grabbers, were secured by the Department after an arduous legal process to be reforested. Mr. Gamage said the latest decision by the Minister, if implemented, would pave the way for such land grabbers to clear these forest lands to be re-used for rice farming.
He urged the Minister not to proceed with this decision.