Environment Conservation Trust Director Sajeewa Chamikara said that Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen must take the whole responsibility for encroaching into Wilpattu sanctuary illegally.

Speaking with ‘Asian Mirror’ on Thursday (07) evening, Chamikara stated that more than 5000 acres of the sanctuary have been destroyed for Bathiudeen’s‘re-settlement’ activities.

“Actually we can’t term these as re-settlements, because none of these people who live inside the sanctuary owned the land originally” he added.

There are people who have actually lost their lands during the war. Some of them in the Mollikulam area cannot go back to their lands as it is still under the navy, Chamikara said.

He also said that settling people inside a sanctuary is illegal. “No one can make houses without proper permission within 1 mile of the border of a national park according to the Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance No 2 of 1937 and the National Environmental Act No 47 of 1980” he elaborated.

Chamikara also warned that if the settlement issue was not managed properly an elephant human conflict could be seen in near future in Wilpattu North Sanctuary and the surrounding area.