Wildlife officers to launch token strike today

Eight trade unions including the All Ceylon Joint Wildlife Officers’ Association (ACJWOA) have decided to resort to an island wide trade union action today against the Wildlife State Minister’s orders to allocate a portion of the land belonging to the Polonnaruwa Flood Plains National Park among cultivators who earlier had caused destruction to this land and to construct a road.  

ACJWOA Chairman Prabash Karunathilake told Daily Mirror that Wildlife State Minister Wimalaweera Dissanayake had given the orders violating a court order.

During the inspection tour of the state minister yesterday, he had instructed to construct a road through the National Park and several other measures to destroy the biological resources of the park.

He said the Minister had given his orders against the Flora Protection Ordinance in the country.

He also mentioned that a special Gazette has also been issued on August 7, 1984, declaring this land as a national park which is an environmentally friendly area of 43,315 acres in the Polonnaruwa Floodplain.

“If the relevant authorities did not take any actions regarding the matter, the ACJWOA would not be hesitant to launch a trade union action for the sake of the conservation of the biological resources of the country,” he said.

“Accordingly, all operations at Wild Life Department will come to a standstill from today and all employees have also applied for medical leave, Mr Dissanayake added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)