Rehabilitation goes on at a pace in East

by Anura Maitipe

The sea was calm with crystal clear shallow waters in the Eastern coastal line, one-time a war-torn province now back to normalcy. New houses, roads and electricity lines have come up with local and foreign assistance. The secret behind this sudden change in the lives of the people in the East was revealed by the people during our recent visit to the area.

The head of the fishing community S. Sivalingam aged 65, in Nilaweli said: "I was 15 when I came to this village with my parents from Point Pedro and since then I am living here. Those days there were Sinhala and Muslim families among us and we all lived in harmony.

"With the commencement of hostilities between the LTTE and the Security Forces in 1984 everything changed for the worse. At the beginning the LTTE started killing Sinhalese people and as a result all of them moved out from this village, in 1984.

"With the departure of Sinhalese people the LTTE started extorting money from the Muslims and they had killed 35 Muslim fishermen up to now for refusing to pay in 1986 and as a result they too left the village and moved over to Batticaloa district.

Now the LTTE has started extorting money from us. As we have no other option and we lived under the LTTE with the constant threat of abduction of our children, facing torture and killings for the past 20 years.

"Now with the liberation of the Eastern Province by the Armed Forces we are free from the brutal rule of the LTTE. Most Tamil and Muslim families who fled the area have now returned and I expect, since there is no LTTE terrorists around Sinhalese families too will return.

Most of the Sinhala people were engaged in tourism and when it was thriving in the area. There were large number of hotels on this beach and we had enough buyers for our catchs.

Then our income went up with the sale of cuttlefish, prawns, lobster, sea fish and other varieties to the hotels."

Another fisherman R. Manikkawasam who lives at Uppuweli said, "Those days when the sea got rough during the off season fishermen in the South moved into these areas for their catch. In turn we moved to the southern seas during the off season in the eastern seas. I hope the old process of migratory fishing will recommence soon.

Since we have no fishing restrictions now we have a very good catch daily but cannot fetch a good price due to the lack of proper marketing mechanism and freezing system. If the government can get involved in purchasing our catch through "Coop food cities" it will be great relief to the fishing community in these areas.

A housewife K. Pooneswari who lives at Sambalthivu said, "I have four children who have not attended school for the past four years. I kept them with my relatives in Polonnaruwa. If they were here, they would be forcibly recruited by the LTTE. But now, I brought them back after the liberation of the East and now they are free to attend schools.

The people in the interior places in the Trincomalee district mainly depend on agriculture and animal husbandry. They too expressed their views about the ongoing development process in the area. A farmer living at Mankulam, Thowfeek Mohomad aged 45 said, "We lived on agriculture and animal husbandry and we faced terrible hardship due to the LTTE atrocities for the past 17 years.

They did not allow us to cultivate our lands. They massacred six families in 1992. As a result we moved away from this village and returned after the liberation of the Eastern Province by the Armed Forces recently from the LTTE.

"We have very fertile land with no water.

If the government can provide a permanent irrigation network it will be quite sufficient for us and we do not want anything else. Then we can stand on our own feet.

The old water tanks which had been used by us earlier are now filled with mud and the dams of these tanks have also been badly neglected due to lack of maintenance for a long period.

Therefore we urge the government to take initiatives to rehabilitate these tanks and canals as quickly as possible to recommence the harvesting of our lands.

The Director of the Re-Awakening program of the conflict affected areas in the North and the East P. H. Sugathdasa said, "The government has already taken initiatives with financial assistance from the World Bank to rehabilitate the rural irrigation network in the Eastern Province.

Within three years we will be able to complete this project. With the completion from this project not only irrigation facilities but other facilities such as drinking water, sanitation and community development will also be developed in the Eastern Province."