The BIG LAND GRAB

Illegal landfilling racket along Colombo-Katunayake expressway

• About 3,000 families face flood threats  
• Muthurajawela wetland affected 
• Ja-Ela Police thwarts an attempt by two PS Members to fill 17-acre marshy land

By Thissa Kotinkaduwa   
Illegal landfilling in barren paddy fields and marshlands along the E03 within the Ja-Ela Divisional Secretariat Division is escalated on a large scale.   
Illegal land-filling in barren paddy fields and marshlands along the E03 within the Ja-Ela Divisional Secretariat Division is on the rise on an alarming scale, environmentalists said.  
A long stretch of the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway (E03) spreads out through the Muthurajawela Wetland, one of the most significant ecosystems in the country.   
Environmentalists say this land filing spree has lead to two drastic repercussions; one being constant floods in six Grama Niladhari divisions in Ja-Ela Divisional Secretariat Division affecting members of about 3,000 families and the other being the grave threat and damage caused to the Muthurajawela wetland.   
The administrative Grama Niladhari of the Ja-Ela Divisional Secretariat Division, Nimal Pathmasiri said the number of complaints received from the residents in Thudella-West, Dandugama, Mahawaththa, Vishakawaththa, Suduwella and Indiwetiya Grama Niladhari Divisions over illegal land-filling in barren fields and marshy-lands within the Muthurajawela Reserve along the expressway were on the rise.   
Mr Pathmasiri said the Ja-Ela Police, Agrarian Services Office, the Central Environmental Authority and Land Reclamation & Development Corporation have also been informed about the issue.   
Meanwhile, the Grama Niladhari of Dandugama said an attempt in broad daylight by two Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) members and several others to fill a 17-acre land, which faces the Colombo-Negombo Main Road and adjacent to the expressway, by bringing in eight tipper trucks loaded with soil was thwarted with the assistance of the J-Ela Police.   
Residents and environmentalists complained that a number of hotels, holiday resorts, storages complexes, large livestock farms are being set up after filling wetlands in the Muthurajawela Reserve along the expressway on the undue influence of various politicians.   
People also complained that a group of personnel had started illegally fill the barren paddy fields at Wetakeyagaha and that the areas of Suduwella, Paaris Perera Mawatha and Thudella are inundated even during minor floods as a result of the filling of barren fields. They lamented that not only their houses but also the farms and cultivations are being damaged by floods.   
When inquired about these illegal landfilling, Ja-Ela Agrarian Service Regional Officer Sunil Santha Welikumbura said with the Police assistance, activities are being taken against those who were filling barren lands in Wetakeyagaha.   

Floods are not new to Ja-Ela, an area which is flooded at least once a year inconveniencing thousands of people.   
Residents in Sudawella, Wahatiyagama, Bolalanda, Vishakawaththa, Thudella-West, Sekkuwattha, Nagoda, Elpitawelagama, Selani Kotuwa, Kempitiya Wela and Delathura, who are worst affected by the floods said the main cause of the destructive flood was land-filing that has been carrying out in the recent past.   
Peoples’ protest against the unlawful land-filling have so far been in vain due to the intervention of politicians to favouring the interested parties, people blamed.   
Environmentalist Sajeewa Chamikara said Muthurajawela is one of the 12 distinctive wetland zones in the country.   
“This reserve is a habitat for 194 species of plants belonging to 66 varieties, 449 species of animals belonging to seven genera including butterflies, dragonflies, fish and several species of amphibians, birds, and mammals. An extent of 1028.62 hectares of Muthurajawela was been declared as a sanctuary by an extraordinary gazette on October 31 in 1996 which also include a provision to penalise those involved in the action to disturb the living of animals and the environment of the sanctuary,” he said.   

An attempt in broad daylight by two Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) members and several others to fill a 17-acre land, which faces the Colombo-Negombo Main Road and adjacent to the expressway, by bringing in eight tipper trucks loaded with soil was thwarted with the assistance of the J-Ela Police.

Agrarian Officer Sunil Santha Welikumbura stressed that no person or entity can fill a lowland area without the approval of the Land Reclamation & Development Corporation.   
Expressing his views on the matter, Former Minister and a permanent resident in Dadugama Gramaseva division in Ja-Ela, Felix Perera said illegal landfilling in barren fields and marshlands had been intensified with the construction of the Ja-Ela interchange of the Colombo- Katunayaka Expressway.   
He said the illegal landfilling had become a large scale racket with the blessings of the politicians.   
He also said Dehiyagatha North, Dehiyagaha South, Thudella South and Thudella North Grama Niladhari divisions were also affected worst by floods during heavy rains devastating properties, cultivations, farms and causing immense inconveniences to the residents of the areas because of illegal landfilling.