In danger of being displaced
Continuous rains have placed thousands in the
plantation community at grave risk:
by P. Krishnaswamy
With rain and thunderstorms forecast to continue and the Disaster
Management Centre contines to warn of landslide threats in Nuwara Eliya
and Badulla regions.
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The
Meeriabedde landslide |
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Removing the
earth after the landslide. |
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Landslide at
Wedamulla |
The safety of the people in the hill country, specially the
plantation community is at grave risk. They are victims of two
disastrous landslides in the recent past and as inhabitants of the
treacherous hills, with no proper shelter, exposure to the inclement
weather and no relief forthcoming- their predicament is a cause for
concern.
In the August 25 landslide disaster at Liddesdale Estate, Ramboda ,
Wedamulla in the Kotmale Pradeshiya Sabha Division, seven estate workers
were killed.
Five women and a 50-year- old man were rescued with both legs being
dismembered, three youngsters were still missing, 30 members of nine
families were injured and 198 persons have been affected. These people
are housed in schools, temples and children's welfare centres. Rescue
operations were delayed due to extensive damage to access roads.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's office on Thursday released Rs. 4
million for relief assistance to affected families.
Relocate
Steps will be taken to relocate them in safer places, according to
the communique. Minister of Upcountry New Villages, Estate
Infrastructure and Community Development Palany Dhigamparam, urged the
plantation management companies at a meeting in his Ministry to resolve
the problems of workers, especially displacement due to landslides in a
humane manner.
He said that temporary shelters and allotment of suitable homestead
lands and other humanitarian assistance should be provided fast.
Minister Dhigamparam will lay the foundation stone on October 6, for
19 houses for families displaced in the Liddesdale landslide and
suitable locations have been identified by the National Building
Research Organisation (NBRO). Follow up action on the construction will
be undertaken by the Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT).
At a meeting at the PHDT, Minister Dhigamparam said that about 5000
houses will have to be constructed for people who would be relocated
from landslide-prone areas in the future.
He had completed the construction work on 400 houses for plantation
workers under the 100-day program of the previous UNF government and
many of these houses will be handed over to families in the coming
weeks, Ministry sources said.
Temporary shelters
However, what is shocking is that one year has lapsed since the worst
landslide disaster at the Meeriabedde Estate in Koslanda in October 2014
burying over 200 people alive under millions of tons of mountainous
earth, making recovery of bodies unthinkable but not even four of the 75
houses needed for the 75 displaced families have been constructed up to
now. The families are now in temporary shelters in Poonagalla in spite
of assurances that the houses will be constructed for them within 'two
weeks'. Ministry sources said that funds from the Treasury were released
to the Badulla Secretariat to construct the houses, and therefore, the
relevant ministries were unable to interfere. Additional District
Secretary, Badulla, Gamini Mahindapala told the Sunday Observer the
foundation stone for the houses were laid by former Defence Secretary
Gotabaya Rajapaksa but the construction work was delayed because
locations had to be changed, open tender procedures had to be followed
for the purchase of Rs. 90 million worth of building material and the
cement blocks had to be lab-tested before use.
Orders for these items have now been placed and construction work
will be completed by December this year. Construction work is being
handled by the Army, the Additional GA said. Disaster Management
Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa and senior officials of the relevant
ministries will undertake an inspection visit to the construction site
tomorrow, October 5, ministry sources said. |