Deforested area not inside Udawalawa National Park: Wildlife Dept.

While rejecting the social media post on the alleged deforestation of forty acres in the Udawalawa National Park, Wildlife Conservation Department's Director General G.C. Sooriyabandara said the area was not within the borders of the Udawalawa National Park.

He told Daily Mirror though people claimed this area came under the Udawalawa National Park, according to the gazette notice it was not so.

According to the area official, the deforested area belonging to the Ruhunu Maha Kataragama Devala had been leased out under the Vihara Dewalagam Act.

The leases son who is a doctor had cleared the forest area.

“This area is a mile away from the buffer zones of the National Park. However, it was an elephant corridor,” Mr. Sooriyabandara said.(Chaturanga Samarawickrama and Rohana Samaraweera)