Govt committed to preserve forest reserves

Despite the big hue and cry by DNA MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his adjournment motion on serious environmental issues on kidnapping baby elephants, unlawful resettlement of people in forest reserves and problems in the National Zoological Gardens, the Ministers responded to his queries with comprehensive replies on the actual situation.

The Ministers said that some of the facts presented by MP Dissanayake were not true and blown out of proportion to gain political mileage. Though the Opposition tried to create a huge controversy on the floor of the House, it was in vain due to the response by Government legislators. The Ministers disclosed to the House the true situation pertaining to these issues highlighted by the MP. MP Dissanayake alleged that a number of forest reserves, national parks and sanctuaries have been cleared for agricultural purposes and constructed houses and hotels and other unauthorised settlements. Some politicians and their henchmen are behind the racket of selling baby elephants he said. He drew the attention of the House to the killing of some animals brought to Ape Gama in Battaramulla, due to lack of proper attention.

Petroleum Industries Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said that all facts and figures presented by MP Dissanayake on these environmental hazards are not quite correct particularly on the killing of elephants and destruction of forest reserves. He said even news in newspapers on these issues are also not hundred percent correct. The Minister said there was no issue within the Government and it is committed to preserve the country's forest reserves. No threat has been posed to forest reserves as alleged by the MP. The key point made by the Minister was that merely because a few individuals committed any offence, it is not justifiable to put the blame on the Government. He said wrongdoings cannot be prevented only by rules and regulations. Environmental protection should not be the responsibility of the Government alone but should be shared by everybody.

Minister Yapa also made certain comments on the present plight of the UNP. He said at present the UNP does not have any economic vision unlike the days of its late leaders such as D.S. Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake or J.R. Jayewardene. Even the UNP's front row MPs are no exception. Modern society does not accept UNP's absurd views. It is obvious that the UNP has no sense of creating its own ideology. The UNP has resorted to the habit of making baseless statements is the hope of grabbing power.

Botanical Gardens and Public Recreation Minister Jayaratne Herath was critical of the remarks made by MP Dissanayake on National Zoological Gardens. He made the point that despite Opposition allegations, some animals die natural deaths. This is a natural phenomenon all over the world and it had been the case right from the beginning.

The Minister said that his Ministry has taken steps to minimise such incidents. He said that the JVP which unleashed terror and killed innocent people is talking about the damage to the environment and the killing of wild animals today. The JVP attempts to present baseless arguments to gain political mileage. To engage in politics, the JVP should form its own ideology without resorting to these bankrupt practices.

Wildlife Conservation Minister Vijith Wijayamuni Soyza responding to a question by UNP MP P. Harrison said that there was on an elephant-selling racket and a massive gene-piracy cartel operating in the country. He said there is also a racket of selling jumbos to private parties. He called on the members to provide information on such rackets. MP Harrison said that he had information of five such places and read out the names of those who rear baby elephants without licences. He challenged the Minister to arrest these persons and seize the jumbos as he has already provided information. The Minister told the MP that they would capture all the jumbos kept illegally within the next couple of weeks. Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa told the MP that he should have provided such information in secret as there is the possibility that the offenders would shift the location of baby elephants.

Government legislators appreciated the contribution by UNP MP Sajith Premadasa during the adjournment debate when he made several positive remarks. He said that we had not reaped the highest benefits from the wildlife. The wildlife and forests are not preserved properly. He proposed to set up a Presidential Task Force on this. He was confident that if we could give effect to a systematic policy initiative we could ensure a wildlife economy and develop ecotourism.

Despite orders by Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa to MPs and Ministers to abide by Standing Orders during question time some MPs continued the usual practise of taking much time to raise questions while some Ministers gave lengthy replies. This led the Speaker to lose his cool.

He warned he would walk out of the House if Government and Opposition MPs did not abide by Standing Orders during question time in the House. The Speaker took a tough stance against MPs spending too much time on one question when he was perturbed by the lengthy answer given by Foreign Employment Promotion Minister Dilan Perera to a question raised by UNP MP Sajith Premadasa.

Of the one-hour allocated for question time, more than 20 minutes were spent on the first question itself which angered the Speaker when the Speaker told MP Premadasa to make his supplementary question short, he failed to do so and the Speaker abruptly switched to the next question.

The topic of good governance was again highlighted on the floor of the House following a question raised by UNP MP Sajith Premadasa which led Chief Government Whip and Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to give him a detailed reply. The Minister said it was the UNP which created the sin of harming good governance in the country. At present the Government is trying its best to rectify the bad precedent left by the UNP. Minister Gunawardena responding to a query raised by the MP on the implementation of LLRC recommendations, said that the Government had already implemented 70 percent of LLRC recommendations.

Citing an example, the Minister recalled how the person convicted of assaulting Vivienne Gunawardena was given a promotion by the then UNP Government. He said thousands of public servants were dismissed in 1980 by then UNP Government and nearly 40 of them committed suicide.

The Minister also said that country was still facing the adverse consequences of these bad precedents left by the UNP. The Speaker told MP Premadasa it was better to recollect the past before raising questions in Parliament.

The party leaders who met in the Parliament complex on Thursday fixed May 20 and 21 for the debate on the UNP's no confidence motion against the Government on its failure to arrest the increasing trend of this country becoming the hub of international narcotic trade and promote the well-being of its citizens. The motion signed by 31 UNP parliamentarians was handed over to Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dassanayake by Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga on February 21.