Irregularities in registering tame elephants to be checked

By Dhaneshi Yatawara

The Temporary Provisions Act will be implemented soon as a short term measure to address issues that could arise with the suspension of registering and licensing of tame elephants, Sports and Tourism Deputy Minister Wasantha Senanayake said.

"The draft is now with the Attorney Generals Department. After fine tuning the Bill will be presented to the parliament through the Minister," Senanayake said.

An investigation is being launched by the Criminal Investigations Department on the irregularities that have occurred when registering tame elephants during the past years. A separate audit was carried out by the Auditor General's Department before the investigations revealed that certain log entries are unacceptable, the Deputy Minister said.

The Act will have a temporary effect until such time the licensing problem is solved. This is to regularise it. It will only address the licensing and registration problem," he said.