COLOMBO (News1st): A team of government backbench lawmakers has denied that the ongoing construction of a hotel near the Sinharaja forest had caused environmental destruction.

“This is a very simple matter. An individual is constructing a house on a privately owned plot of land, for his personal use,” W.D Weerasinghe, a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna lawmaker noted.

He argued that the owner of the private land is entitled to construct any structure.

“Trees on that land have not been cut down. I state this with responsibility, as I visited the area,” W.D Weerasinghe told reporters.

He also denied that a swimming pool has been built by diverting a canal.

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