Batticaloa makes headway

by Gamini WARUSHAMANA

The country celebrated the first anniversary of the end of the conflict and the Batticaloa city is regaining its lost glory. All highways leading to Batticaloa are being renovated. Work on the Polonnaruwa-Batticaloa Road is almost completed and it takes a little more than an hour to travel between the two towns.

The Chenkaladi-Badulla A-5 Road and most of the by-roads too are under construction. Construction work on a new bridge at Kalladi is under way. In the city limit multi-storeyed houses and commercial buildings with glass and aluminium fittings are being constructed seen.

Though the main towns suburbs and villages on the main roads are being developed under peaceful atmosphere, the situation in the villages is not so rosy. The Eastern Province was liberated in July 2007 and even after three years development has not reached many rural areas in the province. Unnachchiya, a village 26 kilometres away from the Batticaloa town in Wawnathive DS division is one such village where people still face hardships.

Living conditions

The living condition of people are hard as they lack even the basic facilities. Steps need to be taken for these people to be brought on par with the rest of the country. Roads are in a dilapidated state. Thousands of bony stray cattle look for grass in dried paddy fields. Abandoned paddy fields and fertile lands, livestock and fish are the treasures in this area that have to be converted into productive economic activities.

A community meeting was organised by People's Bank in a tin roofed hall of the Special Task Force (STF) camp near the Unnachchiya Tank. Hundreds of people gathered and some of them received savings books from a Peoples Bank. They are mobilised in small groups and are ready to go a long journey to overcome poverty.

The Grama Niladhari of the area explained the present situation in the village. There are four hamlets in this village Rasadorai, the eighth mile post, Karawatti Aru and Unnachchiya. There are 328 families in the village and 50 percent of them earn a living by fishing in the Unnachchiya tank. Others are farmers or agricultural labourers. During the off season there is no farming and as a result most of them have no source of income.

Chairman of the Village Development Society M. Anton said that most of the families cook only one meal per day. Parents send their children to school because they receive a meal under the World Food Program.

Threats

The new Kalladi Bridge under construction. Villagers of Unnachchiya ride their bicycles with a load of firewood. They ride 26km to Batticaloa town to sell their firewood and earn Rs. 800 per load, they said.

The frequent entry of wild elephants into the village is another threat to the lives of the people as well as their agriculture. The village does not have electricity. The high tension electricity line up to the village supplies electricity to the pump house of the tank and the STF camp. We face an acute shortage of drinking water and have to trek a long distance to fetch water. People in the Wawnathive village face serious difficulties but water from our tank is pumped to the Batticaloa town, he said.

The rural hospital has not been opened yet because there are no doctors, nurses or other staff. Only maternity clinics are held weekly at the hospital building. The education of the children is obstructed due to lack of teachers. People said that the teachers are coming to school around 9.30 am by the only bus that reaches the village from Batticaloa. They leave the school by 12.30 pm in the same bus.

Law and Order

Addressing the gathering the OIC of the Camp Inspector, Rathnamallale said that the people in the village had income sources before and after the conflict. They went hunting, cut timber from the forest and cultivated cannabis. After we liberated the area we established Law and Order and stopped all illegal activities. However, we have failed to provide alternative income sources for them and as a result they face great difficulties today.

Over 75 percent of these people had some kind of link with the LTTE and most of them have undergone at least some military training. It is inevitable, because this was a stronghold of the LTTE for a long period and they conscripted people.

Sri Mohan (32) out lined the hardships in starting economic activities in the village. Cultivation is impossible due to wild elephants' invasion. I want to start a poultry farm, but there is no electricity. Producers do not get a fair price for their products due to poor transport facilities. We sell milk at Rs. 25 a litre. Village fish production is purchased by a single trader who comes from the Batticaloa town and we get a very low price, he said.

Infrastructure

A government servant said that the situation in many rural areas such as Karaweddi, Wellawali, Mandoor, Mankandu, Pullumalai, Roogam and Kokadicholai are the same. Health and education services in these areas have deteriorated. There is a shortage of doctors and essential drugs even in the Batticaloa Hospital.

The Government has done many things to the province mainly in the restoring infrastructure. Most of the issues that directly affect the lives of the people in the area come under the Provincial Council (PC).

Education and Health are devolved subjects and the PC can solve these issue or bring them to the attention of the Central Government. Bureaucracy is another issue.

There is no co-ordination among the government agencies. For instance teachers of the Unnachiya school can work full day if the CTB reschedules it's operations or provides another bus to the village, he said.