Feature

The fate of Muthurajawela

BY THARUKA Dissanaike

THE stretch of marsh that links the mouth of the Kelani to the Negombo lagoon was once known to be a fertile paddy tract that brought wealth to the kings of Kotte.

Today, it is but a dump- a place to hide away the wastes generated by the suburban sprawl around it and an area that shelters those living on the margins of society- illegal squatters, moonshine brewers, thieves and even smugglers.

Whatever happened to Muturajawela? Where are the expensively drawn out plans and programmes and such, funded by various donors, that sought to develop parts of the 8,000-acre marsh as well as reserve land for conservation purposes.

It was obvious that this piece of 'unproductive' marsh would become prime real estate as demand for urban property increased with population- even as far back as the 1970s.

The Greater Colombo Economic Commission initially took upon itself to come up with a master plan for the development of Muthurajawela in the 1980s. In the 1990s, while realizing the potential need for development and land for urban expansion, the importance of the location vis-...-vis conservation was strongly felt.

The importance of wetlands was just being debated in public fora and Muthurajwela was looked upon as a place of immense conservation importance- for its unique system of peaty marsh associated with man-made canal system and a lagoon environment.

The lagoon provided livelihood for a large number of traditional fishermen and even at that time the catch was being threatened by pollution from industrial areas.

Part of the marsh was declared a sanctuary under the Department of Wildlife Conservation in the early 1990s. With foreign aid, a successful eco-tourism programme was launched in the marsh in the form of bird watching rides through the backwaters and in to the lagoon.

But this, arguably one of Sri Lanka's best eco-tourism success stories, fell through after a few years when they had to change location and today is almost unheard of. Part of the marsh was dedicated as a economic activity zone, and naturally this area was located closer to the city. A buffer zone was demarcated (at least on paper) between the sanctuary and the economic zone.

The coming of the ill-fated Colombo-Katunayake expressway sounded a death knell for many of the carefully laid out plans. Although the roadway was approved by the environmental authorities, it was detrimental to the health of the marsh.

The most obvious impact of the land-filling to accommodate the road has been the increased number of encroachments, marsh-filling, and marsh burning deep inside the santucry in areas that people had no easy access before the road project. Today the roadway is abandoned. But the damage to the marsh cannot be undone.

The Pradeshiya Sabhas that operate in the periphery of the marsh use sand-filled track of the expressway to dump suburban garbage. This dirty practice goes unseen to many since not a lot of people travel down an incomplete expressway through the deep marsh.

Naturally, the Santuary was not open to this kind of abuse before the roadway but today there is no one to stop the perpetrators. They add more garbage to the pile daily. Needless to say that this kind of damage within a 'protected area' is ridiculous.

Another grave issue is that of illegal settlements all over the marsh. Enforcement of the 'Santuary' rules are so lax, that new homes and settlements spring up on a daily basis - in areas so inhospitable that one is amazed that humans could live in this harsh environment, often without fresh water.

But this writer has seen single, distant homes gradually becoming clusters, becoming villages and then, somehow, they manage to get a sympathetic political master to provide them with water bowsers and electricity - never mind that they are illegal. Never mind that it is in the middle of a sanctuary.