A petition to Sri Lanka courts against sand mining in Eastern coast

Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 17:40 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Feb 25, Colombo: Challenging the selection of a multi-national company to excavate mineral sands on the coast between Nilaveli and Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka Marxist party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today filed a petition at the Court of Appeals.

JVP parliamentarians Bimal Ratnayake and Jayantha Wijesekara with the corporation of an inter-company workers union representing the party filed the petition.

Petitioners have named the Industrial Development Minister Kumara Welgama, Coast Conservation Department, Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, Sri Lanka Board of Investment and Environmental Development Authority as the respondents of this petition.

They have pointed out that the Minister of Industrial Development has selected a multi-national company to mine mineral sands from Pulmoddai following the approval given by the Cabinet of ministers on December 2nd last year.

The petitioners appealed the Courts to issue a suspension order on this decision pointing out that the project had been given to an Austrian company without adhering to an accepted tender procedure.

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