Weli Oya And The Political Necessity For Permanent Refugees
Rajan Hoole
The Indo-Lanka Accord and Sri Lanka’s Fault Lines: July 1987 – Part – 9
The Mullaitivu Citizens’ Committee visited Weli Oya (Sect.14.3) with Major Tata of the IPKF in September 1987. The officer–in-charge of the Sri Lankan Army there said that what was going on there was a high-land cultivation scheme under the Mahaveli Project. This was the first time such a claim was officially made. It was earlier said by Minister Athulathmudali to be an open prison camp (see Sect.20.6). It is not clear how the Mahaveli Authority that was in charge of Mahaveli River diversion, was running an ‘open prison camp’ where there was not a drop of Mahaveli water! It was thus with the coming of the IPKF that the Government felt the pinch and proceeded to give legal justification for this piece of brigandage. This was done through a gazette notification made in April 1988 by Gamini Dissanayake, thus bringing the land technically under the Mahaveli Authority. By this time, the LTTE was at war with the IPKF and the problem of Weli Oya remained unresolved.
Yet the impact of Weli Oya on rural Tamils should not be underestimated. From experience, many of them can readily share the feelings of those affected. The book Manal Aru was written by N. Vijayaratnam, who graduated from the University of Jaffna, and was then a teacher at Chemmalai High School. In the book, he describes Amarivayal, a very old Tamil village in the north of Trincomalee District that is now deserted and part of the Weli Oya project area.
As with many old villages close to new colony areas, Amarivayal too was badly neglected while Padaviya colony expanded and received new infrastructure. Situated a few miles west of Thennamaravady, it was also at the border of the former Northern and Eastern Provinces. It had to be reached travelling 7 miles north on a cart road after branching off from the main road linking Pulmoddai and Kebitigollewa. Its only government buildings were a post office and a primary school. There was no electricity.
The writer observes: Read More
To be continued..*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power - Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To read earlier parts click here
