Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Namal Rajapaksa has said that if anyone engages in illegal activities in the name of Rajapaksa, they should lodge a complaint with the police.
When the Minister visited Batticaloa on the 23rd and met the media in the area, they questioned those who were illegally dumping sand, claiming to be “close to the Rajapaksa family”.
Janaka Samarasekara, a resident of Hambantota, has been accused of illegally digging sand on a large scale in the Batticaloa area, implying that he is a friend of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family and environment minister Mahinda Amaraweera.
The Minister told the media that using their family name without any party affiliation is an easy way to get publicity through the media.
“Everyone is making that accusation. The Opposition in Parliament is doing the same. The easiest thing is to say our name. The Opposition thinks that when the name of the Rajapaksas is mentioned, the news will be published in the media. I will also come to testify that we are not, to give the maximum punishment according to the law. Otherwise, the police book will not be written even if they are shouted at in parliament and in media conferences, ” said Minister Namal Rajapaksa.
However, TNA MP Shanakayan Rasamanikkam, who represents Batticaloa, had stated in Parliament that no matter how many complaints were made about the massive environmental destruction, the police had not taken legal action.
The MP had doubted whether the sand mined in the Eastern Province would be sold for construction work in the Maldives.
Signature of the Director General of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, Engineer D Sajjana de Silva, confirming that about eight cubes of refined sand were sold for “very small quantities” of Rs. 180,000 each for the use of Sri Lankan companies engaged in construction in the Maldives A letter sent to the Director General of Government Information was published on social media by MP Rasamanikkam as evidence.
Janaka Samarasekara has illegally dug 50 feet of sand in the Palamaduwa area on the Badulla Road in Batticaloa, causing serious environmental damage to the area, but locals say the area is silent because of his close relation to the Rajapaksa family.
This person is posting photos of himself with the Rajapaksa family and government ministers on social media.