“Shootocracy” In Weliweriya – Clear Sign, Decisions Are Made Elsewhere !
Kusal Perara
“These are sons for whom we prayed and offered blessings as war heroes, who are now attacking us, when we ask for water” - Mother of an injured youth speaking to media, after military crushed the Weliweriya mass protest on 01 August, 2013
The savagery let loose in Weliweriya on 01 August afternoon provides every reason to say, important political decisions are made, not by the elected government, but by those who think they have an unquestionable right to decide on what and how they perceive as right and wrong for Sri Lankans. And now, Sri Lankans for them have no difference and include the Sinhala Buddhist constituency as well.
The “Weliweriya protest” as it is now called, was no spontaneous outburst on a flimsy, trivial issue or incident. It is not about few villages asking for clean water. It is about total impotence of an elected government to address a serious concern of its own citizenry. Villagers in about 12 villages along Attanagalu Oya and around Weliveriya, Rathupaswela, Nedungamuwa area, had been complaining about their water wells and bathing ponds gradually getting polluted. They claimed their complaints were sent to district authorities and the Water Board. While nothing worthwhile was being done on these complaints over many months, pollution had increased to a degree, the villagers could not use them for any purpose. Elderly villagers told media they could not even get into their paddy fields as the water leaves an itching on their feet. More complaints had only brought them water barrels, provided by the Water Board.
Villagers had reason to believe the cause for such gradual pollution of their water sources over many years, was the coming of a factory that produced industrial gloves for export. They also believe, the reason for not taking any action to solve the issue was because the company that owned the factory had very strong influence in making the government decide their way. The owners of this company are Hayley’s Group. The major or the biggest shareholder of Hayley’s is Dhammika Perera, presently the Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, who singularly holds more than 48 per cent of the total shares, directly and indirectly. The company, Dipp Products Group claims they share 05 per cent of the world’s general and industrial gloves market. The company claims they maintain all required standards at their factory in question and is not responsible for such pollution. Yet pollution of natural water sources in an area of about 05 sq km, where the factory is, has run bad over the years.