Yakdissa Reserve destroyed to build 300 cabanas – People protest

Residents of Yatiyantota area staged a protest in the center of Kitulgala town yesterday (28th) demanding an end to the environmental destruction taking place at Dotuluwa Kanda in Yakdissa reserve at Yatiyantota.
It is said that a 14 acre land has been cleared to start a hotel construction project with 300 cabanas at Dotuluwa Kanda in the Yakdissa Reserve, the starting point of the Dandugam Oya, a tributary of the Kelani River. Residents of the area who joined the protest also say that a swimming pool is being constructed across the starting point of Dandugam Oya.
Although the Land Reforms Commission has handed over 517 hectares of land in Dotulu Kanda, including the particular land where the cabanas are to be built, to the Forest Department, the residents of the area say that a fraud has been committed by not demarcating the land and not gazetting it.