The area declared using google maps is more than 17,000 hectares in extent, and is almost two-third of the entire area coming under the Haldummulla DS.’s purview.

Over 1,000 families live within the area.

Recommendations of the then DS for Haldummulla had been disregarded when preparing the gazette notification, reports say.

The DS had asked that mountaintops from where water bodies generate be declared as reserves, but her request is yet to be responded to.

This is because estate Tamils have come to live in those areas.

Due to this situation, finding a land to be distributed among the landless has become a difficulty in Haldummulla.