• Levy of fees from local and foreign tourists visiting Sri Padasthana  off season was in pursuance of a gazette notification in 2022   

By Ranjith Rajapakse   

The Department of Wildlife Conservation has taken step to permits on levy of fees with effect from Wednesday (04) for off season visits to Sri Padastana.   

However, Sri Padastanadhipathi, Chief Sanghanayake of Sabaragamuwa Province Ven Bengamuwe Dhammadinna Thera who expressed concern about it said pilgrims and tourists to Sri Padastana, a place of Buddhist worship, did not have to pay in the past. He said it was an injustice to levy fees to visit Sri Padasthana.   

He told  media that a group of tourists from Bhutan, on a visit to Sri Padastana on his permission yesterday had been charged a fee of USD 05 each by the Wildlife Conservation Office on Sri Pada route.   

However, a senior official of Nallathanniya Wildlife Office said the levy of fees from local and foreign tourists visiting Sri Padasthana off season was in pursuance of a gazette notification in 2022.   

He said he received instructions from the department to levy a fee of US$ 04 from tourists from SAARC countries and US$ 05 from those of other countries for off season visits. He further said the local tourists would be liable to a levy of Rs. 40 and that the issue of permits on payment of fees would be applicable only to the off season visitors. 

 
 Meanwhile, Upcountry Environmental Organizations expressed concern about the damage caused to the endemic plants and varieties of flowers along the Sri Pada route and in the forest reserve by off season visitors to Sri Padasthana.   

Environmentalist Saminda Vidanage said that the off season visitors were in the habit of plucking rare varieties of flowers and uprooting plants without any restriction and adding them to their face book shares. They said this had created a serious impact on the highly sensitive environmental zone.   

The environmentalist said plants and flowers added to the face book shares were endemic to Sri Pada environmental zone and not yet introduced to the world. They requested the relevant authorities to work out an effective plan to prevent the environmental damaged caused by off season visitors to Sri Padastana who are not subject to any supervision after granting them permission for the visit.