The Department of Wildlife Conservation has filed a case against the Department of Irrigation over the destruction of trees inside the buffer zone of Wilpattu National Park, NewsFirst reported on Saturday.
The case was filed at the Puttalam Magistrate’s Court under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. The trees stood near Nelumwewa in Eluwankulama.
A joint field inspection involving the Ministry of Environment found that around 110 trees had been burned and felled, among them:
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Kumbuk (Terminalia arjuna) — large trees | 61 |
| Bakmi (Nauclea orientalis) | 24 |
| Madan (Syzygium cumini) | 2 |
| Identified | 87 |
| Reported total | ~110 |
The three named species account for 87 of roughly 110 trees. NewsFirst does not say what the remaining two dozen were.
The damage was done during disaster repairs
The tank’s bund, which the Department of Irrigation manages, had collapsed during Cyclone Ditwah. The trees were burned and felled while the Irrigation Department was carrying out restoration work on it.
No prior approval or environmental recommendation had been obtained from either the Department of Wildlife Conservation or the Central Environmental Authority for the restoration project.
That is the substance of the case: not that the repair was unauthorised in itself, but that clearance work inside a national park buffer zone proceeded without the consents that zone requires.
One arm of the state prosecuting another
The proceeding sets two government departments against each other in a magistrate’s court, with a third — the Ministry of Environment — having supplied the inspection evidence. Police said the Wanathawilluwa Divisional Secretary has separately lodged a complaint about the incident.
It also illustrates a tension that will recur across the Ditwah recovery programme. Reconstruction of damaged irrigation works is urgent and is being pushed hard; a significant share of the infrastructure damaged by the cyclone sits in or beside protected land. Where speed and statutory clearance collide, this is what the collision looks like.
Kumbuk in particular is a riverine and tank-bund species valued for holding banks together — the trees felled to repair a bund are of the type that stabilise one.
Not reported
NewsFirst does not name any individual accused, say whether the case is against the department as an institution or against named officers, or give the next court date. It does not report the penalty range under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance for the offences alleged.
It gives no response from the Department of Irrigation, and does not say whether restoration work at the site has been halted, whether the bund repair is complete, or what happens to the project while the case is pending. The date of the felling and the date of the joint inspection are both unstated, as is the area cleared.
It is not reported whether any replanting or remediation has been ordered, or whether other Ditwah repair sites inside protected areas are being reviewed for the same failure to obtain clearance.