Did An Email Stop The Completion Of The River For Jaffna Project?
December 21, 2013
C.V.Wigneswaran
By C. Wijeyawickrema -
If NPCM Wigneswaran and TNA members want to help Jaffna famers there is an unusual book that they should read. The principal author of this book of collection of essays, “Community based water conservation and development: two contrasting examples from Sri Lanka and from Russia” (OPRO Printers, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, September 2013) is the well-known engineer D.L.O. Mendis. With names and dates, he alleges, that the River for Jaffna project was derailed half-way from its completion by two or three non-engineers holding high-level positions in GOSL, just by exchanging a few e-mails between them! Despite this arbitrary act, a technical committee which had the task of prioritizing the water resource development projects to be undertaken in the island listed River for Jaffna as the new number one priority. Therefore, instead of promoting Tamil separatism by way of planting maaveerar trees or using the word genocide, Wigneswaran can help Jaffna people by getting the RfJ project resurrected ASAP. DLOM’s book gives all the information he needs to request, if necessary, funding help from David Cameron, Manmohan Singh or the Canadian one, via MahindaR
.Cows and engineers
DLOM’s book reminded me two engineering episodes that I could never forget. One was about the Mahaveli Authority engineers. They had a hard time figuring out why cows and buffaloes did not use the bridges that they built for the animals to cross the irrigation canals so that the canal bunds do not get damaged. The bridges were at the identified cattle crossings. When this cow issue came to the attention of a new Director General (and who told me this story), who was a people oriented manager, and a believer in the value of “community knowledge,” he asked the field engineers to arrange a joint meeting with the area farmers.
