Lime stone mining in Digana Kandy is reported to have been carried out in an irregular manner , an investigation report revealed.
03 plots of lands situated within the area of residential business management office, Digana of Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority has been issued on lease by Digana office in year 2013 to mine limestone for the production of Dolomite fertilizer.
Accordingly it has to recover the charge for the use of land as per the rate of Rs. 1000 per one cube of limestone removed as per the notification published in the Gazette No 1600/18 dated 06 May 2009.
However a sum of only Rs. 300 has been recovered per cube. According to the information available at the Bureau of Geological Survey and Mining 31,684 cubes of stone have been removed from this site during the period from year 2013 up to 2016.
For this purpose charges for the use of lands have been recovered but it has been undercharged by Rs. 30.
Permission has been given for mining of limestone in the sites without making any evaluation on the environment as per the provisions of National Environment Act No 27 of 1980.
Mining has been made in violation of the conditions of the permit and neglecting the payment of charges but the term of the permit has been extended without taking any legal action in this regard, investigation report dislocated.
(LI)