The Gampaha Additional Magistrate has issued an order to the relevant officials to exhume the buried root of the much-disputed Crudia zeylanica tree, which was uprooted to proceed with the construction of the Central Expressway.
Gampaha Additional Magistrate Fathima Zahana, who issued this order, has also ordered the case to be recalled on August 24, when the case was taken up for consideration before the courts today (July 24).
The Chairman of the Organization to Protect Archeological Artifacts, Ven. Udasgiriya Samitha Thero had requested the Gampaha Magistrate’s Court to exhume the uprooted endemic tree, which is said to have been buried.
Accordingly, the Additional Magistrate has ordered the forest officers to exhume the root of the buried tree, and to send it to a suitable location for conservation, following the identification process of the plant root by a related official from the botanical gardens.
Earlier on Saturday, the Additional Magistrate ordered to immediately provide security to the area where the tree is said to have been buried, and also called for a statement regarding the location where the relevant plant was buried.
