Title: Assessment of legislative and institutional mechanism for the river reservations in Sri Lanka: Case study in Geli Oya
1Assessment of legislative and institutional
mechanism for the river reservations in Sri
LankaCase study in Geli Oya
- Sewwandhi Chandrasekara
- Research Scientist
- Foundation for Environment, Climate and
Technology - 19th Tuesday, February 2013
2Introduction
- Riverine civilization
- Availability of water for routine work
- Simple governing mechanism to control impacts for
the riverine environment - But today, there is necessity of strict governing
mechanism to control impacts for the riverine
environment - Increase population, urbanization and less land
availability for living - River reservation encroachment
3- However
- There are adequate number of
- Institutions
- Legislations
- To declare and protection of river reservations
- To evict river reservation encroachers
- Still river reservation encroachment is present
- Therefore this study
- Investigate existing governing mechanism to
declare and protection of river reservations and
evict river reservation encroachers
4Methodology
- The existing legislations
- To declare and protection of river reservations
- To evict river reservation encroachers were
identified and studied to extract important legal
statements for the study - A group work
- 40 officers
- 7 major government institutions in the Central
Province - National Water Supply Drainage Board (NWSDB)
- Education Department
- Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL)
- Department of Health
- Provincial Councils
- Kandy Municipal Council
- Central Environment Authority (CEA)
5Existing legislations available for the
protection of river reservations
- State Lands Encroachments Ordinance No 12 of
1840 - Land Development Ordinance No 19 of 1935
- Crown Lands Ordinance No 8 of 1947
- State Lands Ordinance No 8 of 1947
- State Lands (Recovery of Possession) Act No 7 of
1979 - Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka Act No 23 of 1979
6Legislation Mandated responsibilities Responsible person/s
State Lands Encroachments Ordinance No 12 of 1840 prevention of encroachment upon state lands Grama Niladari
Land Development Ordinance No 19 of 1935 make regulation for the maintenance of reserves for the prevention of the sources and courses of streams make regulation for the prevention of erosion of the soil Minister Grama Niladari
Crown Lands Ordinance No 8 of 1947 publish and declare the reservations for the protection of the source, course or bed of any public stream Minister
State Lands Ordinance No 8 of 1947 declare the stream reservations eviction of encroachers from the reservation does not humiliate the rights of the proprietors of the stream banks to use stream water Government Agent
State Lands (Recovery of Possession) Act No 7 of 1979 eviction of encroachers from the reservation state insitutions has power to develop the river reservations Government Agent Commissioner of Local Government General manger of state owned insitutions Fiscal or Police Officer
Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka Act No 23 of 1979 gazette definition for the surroundings or reservations of the natural and artificial waterways Minister Divisional Secretariats
7Declared width of the river reservation
Description Width (m) Width of the river reservation (m)
Major waterways More than 15 60 from each sides
Medium waterways 5 15 40 from each sides
Minor waterways Less than 5 20 from each sides
- Land Development Ordinance N0 19 of 1935
specify the river reservation based on the river
width (m) and gazette published from MASL specify
the river reservation based on the rived bed
width (m)
8Existing institutions available for the
protection of river reservations
- Directly involved
- District and Divisional Secretaries and MASL
- Indirectly involved
- Provincial Land Use Department
- Provincial Health Department
- Central Environment Authority
- Education Department
9Drawbacks for the performances
- Some institutions have the information but lack
authority to implement - Provincial Land Use Department
- Some institutions have the authority, but do not
have qualified people to prepare maps/plans - Divisional Secretaries Office
- Lack of coordination among institutions
- Lack of institutional capacity
- Willingness of the officials to perform their
mandated responsibilities - Political interventions
10Conclusions
- Existing regulatory mechanisms comprehensively
cover all aspects of river reservation protection
in Sri Lanka - Mandate are most of the time appears to overlaps
among institutions - Lack of coordination among institutions,
procedural lapses, political interference, less
enthusiasm of state employees to implement rules
and regulations were found as main reasons for
the inaction of institution to prevent land
encroachments along river reservations.
11Acknowledgement
- Crossing boundaries project, PGIA
- Villagers in Egoda Kalugamuwa and Elpitiya-Geli
Oya - Officials of relevant insitutions
- Prof. Nimal Gunawardena, Dr. Dammika Dayawansa
and staff at Agric. Engineering Dept. - FECT
12Thank You