Drinking water crisis in Thammita Village

Thammita is an ancient village situated four kilometres from the Gampaha town towards Jaela. The village is spread on a cabook (literite) hill overlooking the paddy field called ‘Thambavita’ beyond the Aththanagalu river.

In ancient villages, temples are built on the highest spot but in Thammita, the temple is at the foot of the hill. This shows that the water crisis in Thammita has a long history and existed even earlier. Although the village originated during the Kotte era, the village was inhabited only when the Thammita reservoir was constructed after Independence in 1948. The Thammita ‘old dam’ was built at very little expense, according to a plan by the first Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake parallel to his agricultural revolution. During the tenure of first executive President J.R. Jayawardene, new Thammita dam was strengthened by the then Minister of Irrigation Gamini Dissanayake. Now, 700 families live in this village. They have built deep wells as well as tube wells on the hill, But these efforts haven’t met their needs.

During times of drought, especially when the Tammita dam is opened to empty the reservoir for paddy harvesting, the bottom of the Aththanagalu river can be seen. In line with the level in the river, ground water declines in the village. Kabook soil doesn’t retain soil water. The wells in the village are dry and the water level has dropped below the levels where pumps could take in the water. Villagers are severely inconvenienced.

Students and teachers in Thammita Maha Vidyalaya also face difficulties. During the drought, students practising for the sports meet and circuit meet face difficulties due to the scarcity of drinking water.

To find a practical solution to this situation, an appeal with thousand signatures of villagers was sent to President Maithripala Sirisena to intervene into the matter. The National Water Supply and Drainage Board has laid a main pipeline from Kadawatha to the Makilangamuwa Junction and supplies drinking water. This junction is 3 km away from the Thammita village.

Residents have demanded an extension pipeline to the Thammita village from the main water supply pipeline at Makilangamuwa Junction.

Residents in Thammita are patiently waiting until the National Water Supply and Drainage Board lays the pipeline and supplies water.

Nayana Kahatapitiya

Maternity leave should be reconsidered

It looks as if Sri Lanka does not want to encourage parents to have more than one or two children. I am talking of maternity leave being given to working mothers.

In the developed world paternity leave in addition to maternity leave is given to care for the new born and if the child is the second or third born, maternity leave entitlements are enhanced or remain which is equivalent to about five to six months.

In the cities, it is extremely difficult to find home help and many couples are not living with parents as in the old days or they may have lost their parents thus making it extremely difficult for parents to leave their tiny infants at home. Nowadays both parents need to be employed to manage the home fires.

However, in Sri Lanka if the child is the third born only forty two days leave is given to the mother! What is forty two days when you have a new born. The mother cannot even breastfeed the baby as required by the WHO. Some mothers try to extract the milk and freeze it and leave it to feed the infant till the mother returns but this is impractical.

A mother and child should bond and this requires a good six months. This bonding time is essential for mother and child. Maybe it is this lack in our country which has led to young people ending up as criminals.

The Authorities must seriously re-think about maternity leave and ensure a reasonable amount of days for the mother to stay at home and care for the infant, so that the child can be cared for by the mother and has time to bond with her.

Damayanthi Silva
Colombo

A pathetic sight

Just a stone’s throw away from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s official residence, Temple Trees, close to the bus stand, is a house which has no electricity supply and excepting for a dim light at night, it is always in darkness. Sometimes the children study under candlelight. It looks as if the family living here live in very poor circumstances. They live a hand-to mouth existence without troubling anyone. But what is appalling is that no one seems to be bothered about these people, even though they live in the heart of Colombo.

These residents may have lived in Kollupitiya for decades and may have no other place to go. Children may be attending schools in Colombo because they will have true valid documents to prove their residence. They may be unable to ask for assistance from anyone and carrying on with whatever means they had.

I am sure if someone takes a closer look at their living conditions something can surely be done for them. It is my earnest appeal for people around the area who are affluent, to help this family without embarrassing the occupants. However, this might be the plight of many other families living in the heart of Colombo who are unable to talk of their living conditions.

Poverty is one thing but lending a helping hand is paramount. These people , i don’t think are the type who will go asking for assistance. It is our duty to look into their circumstances and help them.

A passerby Colombo