Truth gagged

Thursday 11th February, 2021

Intrepid Forest Officer Devani Jayatilake is in the news again—for the right reason. Earlier, she received accolades from the media and the public when she stood up to a government minister, who tried to destroy a mangrove forest for the construction of a playground. This time around, she has gone out of her way to save a rare endemic plant, Crudia zeylanica, in the Gampaha District. In so doing, she has got under the skin of some government politicians and their bureaucratic lackeys. The truth hurts, and her superiors have reportedly gagged her.

The Opposition was right in taking up Devani’s predicament, in Parliament, where some government members sought to belittle her valiant efforts to protect endemic plants and what remains of the country’s forest cover. These intellectually-challenged windbags have seen red because courageous officials like Devani prevent their attempts to destroy forests on the pretext of carrying out development activities.

One cannot consider oneself intelligent if one expects government politicians to act wisely. Intoxicated with power, they are bent on bulldozing their way through. There are, of course, intelligent, patriotic MPs among them, but they are the exception that proves the rule. So, it is only natural that they are inveighing against Devani and other Forest Officers who refuse to give in to political pressure. Sadly, some mandarins, too, have found fault with her instead of giving her moral support.

A supposedly educated, top bureaucrat has claimed that Devani did something high-handed in that the protection of the aforesaid endangered plant does not come within the purview of the Forest Department. But for her timely intervention, the plant would have been gone forever as those who are legally required to protect it apparently did not do their job. So, who should be taken to task? Devani, who saved the plant, or the officers who shirked their responsibility? What she deserves is not censure, much less disciplinary action, but praise for her keenness to protect flora. The act of flaying her for going above and beyond the call of duty is tantamount to ticketing an ambulance driver for not heeding road rules in trying to save a patient’s life. The valuable plant is there because she sprang into action. Those who are legally required to protect it acted only after she had moved in to neutralise the threat. Hasn’t President Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently urged public officials to disregard circulars and other such things that stood in the way of people’s interests being served?

The government has launched its ambitious Wari Saubhagya to rehabilitate thousands of irrigation tanks. The project is long overdue yet commendable. But it will be an exercise in futility if trees continue to be felled at the present rate, for there will be no water in the reservoirs being repaired.

Given the manner in which pliant administrators are licking politicians’ boots and sandals, what will befall the peripheral forests if they are removed from the purview of the Forest Department and brought under the Divisional and District Secretariats is not difficult to imagine; politicians and their henchmen will be able to destroy forests according to their whims and fancies in such an eventuality. Is it that they have launched a witch-hunt against Devani in a bid to deter other officials like her from putting paid to their efforts to amass wealth at the expense of the country’s precious forests?

Environmentalists and the media have circled the wagons vis-à-vis the onslaught on the environment. Forests, wetlands, wildlife sanctuaries, river banks and all other environmentally sensitive places are under threat, as never before. We need thousands of state officials who have the courage to tell meddlesome politicians responsible for environmental degradation where to get off. Devani has shown the way. She can rest assured that all right-thinking people are on her side.