Flawed projects lead to rapid deforestation : Ven. Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara Thero

COLOMBO (News1st) : Flawed government projects have contributed to the rapid deforestation in the country, a parliamentary election candidate has said. "We are destroying the forests of this country at a fast pace," Ven. Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara Thero, the candidate of the Ape Janabala Party said during a meeting. He said that a cabinet paper had been put forward recently to cut down trees across 200 acres of forest land in Hambantota. "When we asked them why it was done they said that the trees in the area are an obstacle to the planes that land at the airport," the candidate claimed. He added that cabinet papers also proposes to sell off a small portion of Galle Face Green and some state lands in Slave Island to multinational corporations. "Recently they attempted to sell off about 500,000 hectares of lands to multinational corporations,"  Ven. Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara Thero added. On Thursday, cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardana denied that the cabinet had approved the proposal. "There was no discussion on that yesterday," he told reporters. "Some of these cabinet papers that are presented are discussed and postponed to another date."