The Hon. Kins Nelson
Kins Nelson raised concerns about severe human-elephant conflict in the Polonnaruwa District, affecting both farmers and schoolchildren, including 88 schools in the Dimbulagala Education Zone and 59 in the Hingurakgoda Education Zone. He cited the death of a schoolchild on 22 January in the Dimbulagala Divisional Secretariat Division and a subsequent attack on a farmer by the same elephant, asking why it had not been captured and relocated. He requested the Minister to state specific measures to address departmental shortcomings such as fuel shortages, broken vehicles, and inadequate maintenance of electric fences and elephant drives.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, my first supplementary is this.
¶ 02 Hon. Minister, not only farmers but also schoolchildren are under severe pressure in the Polonnaruwa District. In the Dimbulagala Education Zone, 88 schools, and in the Hingurakgoda Education Zone, 59 schools are affected. Most recently, on 22 January, a schoolchild in the Dimbulagala Divisional Secretariat Division was killed by an elephant inside the school. Despite requests to capture and relocate that elephant, the Department did not do so; yesterday morning, the same elephant attacked a farmer.
¶ 03 What specific measures will you, as the new Minister, take? The Department says they lack basic facilities—fuel shortages, broken vehicles—so electric fences and elephant driving are not properly maintained. What action will you take?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 6 February 2025 ·No. 1739271735020022 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Kins Nelson. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 6 February 2025. No. 1739271735020022. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/663