Story about Tourist Guest House in Sri Pada forest environment -- camouflaged political and Muslim Hand

Story about Tourist Guest House in Sri Pada forest environment -- camouflaged political and Muslim Hand

The phenomenon that a tourist guest house is to be established in Sri Pada environment which was circulated among social websites during the past few days had by now gone a long way. This news has become a topic which has been provocative enough to create issues related to racism, political protests and environmental problems and Sripadasthanadipathi Right Venerable Bengamuwe Dhammadinna Nayaka Thero too had to voice his opinion in the presence of the media. One of the points that drew attention

to was that a certain land belonging to Basil Rajapaksa close to Sri Pada had been sold to a group of Arab nationals for the purpose of building a hotel and that those owners had visited the land concerned by helicopter for inspection.

Several photographs which could be assumed to have been taken in this connection were circulated across social websites and since Sri Pada which is being venerated as 'Adam's Peak' by those of the Muslim faith, social websites have made an attempt to give an indication that this is the preliminary step to transforming this location to a Muslim holy location.

The response by the Chief Incumbent of Sri Pada was that a person of any religious faith has the freedom to worship this spot and that there is no necessity to create problems by making this an issue. He further added that as there are no lands belonging to to the Sri Pada he has no interest in claiming rights for or to oppose a hotel which is being built in some quarters. Whatever it is, officials who attended the meeting confirmed that a building of that sort is underway. As reported presently, the said tourist guest house has been planned to be erected at a location which comes under the police area of Nallathanni known as 'Mare waththa'. Though it has been described by social websites as situated at the foot of the Sri Pada, when examined in relation to the Google Map it was noted that the hotel lies in a private piece of land close to Mare Falls which stands 6 kilometers away from Sri Pada terrace.

It would cause no issue to anybody as to who it is that is involved in the construction as long as the environmental license relevant to guest houses is granted. The Central Environmental Authority has visited the land under reference for inspection by now under the demur which erupted in this regard in order to ascertain whether authority or permission could be granted. In the meantime, while one party say that the owner of this land is Basil Rajapaksa, yet another party say that a stalwart of the present regime has some connection with this land. Sometime back when the media directly questioned him on this matter, he neither did admit that it belongs to him nor deny any possession of it; thus leaving a quizzical answer. Photographs which are supposed to have been taken when the Arab nationals visited and inspected the land, from below