Wild Elephant Management Reserve will be gazetted; says Namal R.

Colombo (News 1st); The Proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve in Hambantota will be included in the government gazette in the near future, said Minister Namal Rajapaksa on Tuesday (19). The minister was commenting on the satyagraha campaign launched by locals from Walsapugala, Hambantota demanding the Proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve in Hambantota, be included in the government gazette. The necessary provisions were made in 2012 to gazette to The Proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve in Hambantota, however, over the past 05 years, those plans did not realize, said the Minister. Recently, Minister of Wildlife & Forest Conservation C. B. Rathnayake tabled a Cabinet Memorandum on the matter, said Rajapaksa adding a period of one month was given for the Mahaweli Authority to revert with their recommendations on the Proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve in Hambantota. Namal Rajapaksa said the Proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve in Hambantota was planned and approved back in 2012 when he was the District Development Committee Chair. If the Proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve in Hambantota does not go ahead, it would be a great injustice to the farming community said Namal Rajapaksa adding it could also pose a threat to the wild elephants as well. Further, he said if certain officials are operating on the needs of industrialists using large areas of land for cultivations, necessary action will be taken against them following consultation with the Secretary of Defence. The satyagraha campaign launched by locals from Walsapugala, Hambantota demanding the Proposed Wild Elephant Management Reserve in Hambantota, be included in the government gazette, continued for a second day on Tuesday (19). The Walsapugala village in Hambantota is a village in the frontlines of the Human-Elephant conflict, and for many years the people in this village have been living in fear for their lives. As their pleas to solve the issue went unheard, they decided to take matters into their own hands solely to protect the environment. This strong movement is supported by 86 agrarian associations in the area. Interestingly, those who were to stage a Sathyagraha Campaign had their temperature checked before taking part.