The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake
Bimal Rathnayake said environmental agencies’ strict positions were understandable given past large-scale environmental destruction linked to political patronage and corrupt business, citing land clearing in Mannar, Marichchikaddi and the Madu forest. He commended Department of Wildlife Conservation officials while stating that the government would protect both the environment and affected people. He proposed discussions with the Environment Minister to find a solution.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, environmental agencies have reasons for their strictness. Over the last decade or two, with political patronage and corrupt business, there has been large-scale environmental destruction—e.g., in Mannar, about 700 acres cleared and grabbed by powerful politicians; destruction near Marichchikaddi; now Madu forest is being cut. Due to such experiences, DWC officials took strong stances. We appreciate their effort. But we are not a government that destroys the environment. We will protect both the environment and people. As I said, let us sit together with the Environment Minister and find an answer.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 5 February 2026 ·No. 23269 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/12972
Cite as: The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 5 February 2026. No. 23269. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/12972