Eastern revival:

Southern solidarity vital

by Gamini WARUSHAMANA

Date: October 30

Place: Unnichchai village, 26 Km away from the Batticaloa town in Vavunathivu DS division in the Eastern Province.

The whole village was gathered at a village school to welcome dignitaries from Colombo. Women in their best saris, men and children in their best clothes. With the financial support and facilitation from Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank and Sri Lanka Army a grand ceremony was ready to welcome Deputy Minister of Resettlement Vinayagnamoorthy Muralitharan and Central Bank (CB) Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal.

At the meeting in Unnichchai.

Many things have changed in this war-torn village from what we had seen six months ago. In May we were here with Central Bank officials to report on the launch of a micro finance credit program to assist the people to re-start their livelihoods.

The Main Road from Chenkaladi to Unnichchai is now under construction. The STF unit that camped on the bank of the Unnichchai tank has been replaced by a permanent camp of the Sri Lanka Army’s Sixth Gemunu Watch. Some permanent houses have been constructed. In addition to the only SLTB bus that daily reached the village five months ago, a private bus has been added for transport between Batticaloa town and Unnichchai.

With the early showers of the North Eastern Monsoon people have sown the fields. The area was liberated from the LTTE in July 2007 and even after three years, development has not reached many rural villages in the province similar to Unnichchai. This is the third season that have they cultivated their lands after the end of the war and they have a lot of expectations. However, nature too is not too kind to them and the few weeks long drought has dried the green shoots of paddy. They were praying for rain.

Lives of these people have not improved much. There are only few options for them to earn an income.

The Banks were in the process of mobilising people, forming small groups and giving training to them to start self-employment ventures and loans were not yet disbursed.

Sri Mohan, a village youth said that life is still hard for most of the families and their only hope is Maha season’s outcome. Schools still run under-staffed and the nearest dispensary is still closed due to non availability of staff.

A large number of families still live in temporary shelters.

Divya Ramanadan, an Advanced Level student of Karadiyanaru has to travel 20 km daily to school. Lack of teachers and transport difficulties have made learning a difficult task, she said.

The people who lived with war over decades do not possess skills to get available jobs in infrastructure development projects as skilled labour has been brought from the South. A mason working under a sub-contractor in construction of culverts is from Akmeemana in the Galle district. He gets a wage of Rs. 1,100 daily with meals and he stays at a temporary camp with many workers who have migrated from the South.

The ceremony we were attending was to mark the completion of the reconstruction of 192 houses and official disbursement of loans for livelihood projects.

Housing project

The commencement of this housing project is a story in itself. Last May CB officials visited the STF camp to educate the people on the loan scheme. At that meeting the OIC of the STF camp IP Rathna Malala made an emotional speech explaining the pathetic situation faced by the villagers.

Temporary shelters.

He said that after winning the war most of the livelihood activities of the people such as hunting, timber cutting and cultivation of cannabis were banned as they were illegal. Since there were no other alternative people were starving and living without permanent shelter. He urged officials to provide at least a few houses under CSR initiatives of the banks. He stressed that unless these grievances of the people, most of them ex-LTTE cardres, a similar uprising cannot be prevented. In follow up discussions the parties agreed to launch a housing project and finally People’s Bank and Bank of Ceylon provided Rs. seven million to renovate 192 partly damaged houses.

Construction of the houses were done by Sarvodaya with the participation of students of Sarvodaya Vocational Training Centre in Batticaloa and soldiers of Unnichchai Army camp.

Assistant Governor of the CB, W.M. Karunarathne said that in this housing project they attempted to provide permanent shelter to a maximum number of persons. “As most of the houses that were damaged were repairable we fixed the roofs, front doors and back doors,” he said.

The two banks issued loans totalling Rs. 27 million for 655 projects in agriculture, animal husbandry and small home based industries.

IP Rathna Malala who has now been transferred to Aranthalawa spoke of his experiences. “The whole village was abandoned during the last stage of the war and after the people returned from IDP camps their lives were so pathetic. There were widows with children and they were starving. Houses were damaged and the village did not have even a single toilet. We collected money from our soldiers and helped them in whatever way we could”, he said.

Become millionaires

The whole village loves and respects Rathna Malala and this relationship is so strong. The Grama Niladari of the village said that the whole village wept the day he and his STF unit left the village. Rathna Malala urged other donors to join this project and help to construct houses for 172 families still living in temporary shelters and to construct some toilets in the village.CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal in simple terms explained to the loan recipients how to become millionaires by starting businesses with their loans.

Ramanadan Kamalini received Rs. 50,000 as a loan and she planned to start a bakery. Without knowing about the war against ‘wheat flour terrorism’, in the South she said that there will be a good demand for bread and other bakery products.

Roads under construction.                      Pix by Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

Another loan recipient - Shanthi said that she will invest money to purchase some cows. Already she has 20 cows. She said she gets a good price for milk from Milco. Maheshwari is planning to expand her boutique. She has also received Rs. 50,000. The Deputy Minister Muralitharan said that government will immediately address issues faced by the people in the East. Already projects have been started to improve transport, electricity and water supply.

Unnichchai is only one of the many under privileged war-torn villages in the North and the East. A government official said that the situation in villages such as Karaveddi, Aithyamali, Kokadicholai and Milawettuan is worse. Rapid development of infrastructure is a positive sign of the improving situation, he said.Area commander of the Eastern Province Brigadier Mahinda Mudalige said that 25 years ago, when they first came to this village through the jungle as young army officers, the situation was the same. This area was a stronghold of the LTTE and poverty is the major factor that pushed the inhabitants towards the LTTE. “We Sinhalese in the South have forgotten the past. If we think like Sri Lankans this situation will not arise.

There are thousands of children and widows affected by the war. To reverse the situation the people of the South should come here and show their solidarity. Southerners to help these people. The Sri Lanka Army is doing its best to change the lives of these people”, Mudalige said.