Rilagala range in danger because of Southern Express Highway

Jul 27, 2016

The Rilagala mountain range protection unity has added that they will not allow rubble to be extracted from the Rilagala mountain range when the Southern Express Highway is extended beyond Matara.

This organization has cautioned as they have come to know that the authorities of the road construction company are hoping to obtain rubble from the mountain range of Rilagala.

 

In this connection a media briefing had been held in Colombo where the secretary of the Rilagala mountain range protection unity Mahesh Sampath had expressed.

 

In the decade of 1940 the Rilagala mountain range had been classified as a preserved mountain as a region connected to the Mahamaya mountain region. Another threat is that to the vicinity of the mountain range there is a waterway in which there is a hereditary type ornamental fish which have been recorded in ancient books. In the event a damage is made to the mountain range there is a threat to the fish as well as the trees which are around the range.

 

The coordinating environmentalist Ravindra Kariyawasam of the environmental and nature educating institution speaking at the media briefing had added that in the context of the above there is a definite hazard to the hereditary fish and trees. If the authorities commence the exercise of extracting the rubble in the mountain range would also flout not only the environment act but also the fauna and flora acts