President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the Central Highlands Protection Authority Act will be passed in Parliament by the end of this year or early next year, and all the powers to protect the ecosystem will be given to the authority.
The President made this statement while participating in the inauguration of the ‘Navodya Puram’ housing scheme for families who lost their homes due to the Bandarawela Poonagala Kabaragala landslide in 2023.
He also said that the Central Highlands Protection Authority will be established with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank.
However, he said that although it may take decades for the Central Highlands to return to their previous state, steps must be taken to stop the ongoing destruction. The President, who said that the Central Highlands are the backbone of Sri Lanka, said that it is being destroyed before our eyes. He said that he has seen mountain collapses, springs drying up, and river banks being filled.
The President further stated,
“The central mountains are an important part of our country’s future. Our responsibility is to protect the central environment for our future.
During this program, homes may be lost. Areas with cultivated land may become forests. But it must be done. Otherwise, we will face a major disaster. The powers of institutions will be divided, chairs will be transferred here and there, job titles will change…. No one should worry.”
Meanwhile, he said that efforts will be made to provide the Malayagam people with full rights and life to live in this country as our own brother people, and as a step towards this, he said that efforts will be made to sign agreements to secure the rights of those people when the agreements of the plantation companies expire in 2042.