The Ministry of Environment has ordered an immediate and impartial investigation into the burning of centuries-old Kumbuk trees at Nelum Wewa in Parana Eluwankulama, Vanathavilluwa, inside the boundary zone of the Wilpattu National Park.
Deputy Environment Minister Anton Jayakody has instructed the Secretary to the Ministry to carry out the inquiry and submit an urgent report, the Daily Mirror reported on Friday morning.
The Ministry said the loss of natural vegetation protecting water resources in an ecologically sensitive area could threaten the wider ecosystem. If the investigation establishes the burning was a deliberate act of sabotage or ecocide, it said, the maximum penalties available under the law would be sought — action under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, the Forest Conservation Ordinance and the National Environmental Act, against anyone found responsible “regardless of their status or position.”
A joint on-site inspection was scheduled for Friday, bringing together officials from the Department of Irrigation, the Forest Conservation Department, the Department of Wildlife Conservation, local administrative authorities and the security forces.
What was burnt, and how
Hiru News, which says the destruction came to the authorities’ attention through an exposé by its own investigative team, gives the detail the Ministry statement does not.
An organised group had, over several days, set fire to a stand of centuries-old, massive Kumbuk trees standing in the middle of Nelum Wewa. When journalists reached the site the forest trees were still burning.
Environmentalists told Hiru they suspect organised crime rather than an accidental spread, on a specific ground: the roots of each tree had been targeted and set alight individually. A fire that moves through scrub does not do that.
Kumbuk (Terminalia arjuna) grows along tank bunds and watercourses across Sri Lanka’s dry zone and is valued precisely for what the Ministry cited — holding banks together and protecting water bodies. Mature specimens take generations to replace.
The inspection includes the department Hiru says is covering it up
The sharpest allegation in Hiru’s account is not about the fire at all.
Environmentalists and residents told the broadcaster that irrigation officials are hurriedly filling Nelum Wewa with water, submerging the burnt trees and covering the evidence of the destruction — and doing so before police investigations into the incident have concluded.
That sits directly against the Ministry’s own plan. The Department of Irrigation is one of the five agencies listed as taking part in Friday’s joint on-site inspection. Neither outlet reconciles this: the Daily Mirror does not mention the filling of the tank at all, and Hiru does not mention the joint inspection. No official has been asked to respond to the allegation, and neither report says whether the filling has been halted.
Not reported
Neither outlet says how many trees were burnt or over what area, when the fires began, or who is suspected of setting them. Neither gives a motive — whether land clearing, encroachment, or something else — and no suspect has been named or arrested.
Nothing in either report explains why Nelum Wewa is being filled now, on whose authority, or whether the filling is a scheduled irrigation operation that coincides with the fires. The Ministry has not said when the Secretary’s report is due, and no outlet reports the outcome of Friday’s inspection.
The two outlets also differ on the place name, writing Parana Eluwankulama (Daily Mirror) and Parana Eluwakkulama (Hiru). Both refer to the same locality on the park’s southern boundary in the Puttalam district.
