Mahaweli Maha Seya:

Symbol of social cost of development

By Gamini Warushamana

Enshrinement of relics in Mahaweli Maha Seya, a Buddhist Stupa in Kotmale took place recently. This Stupa is significant from the point of view of development because it can be considered the first Stupa built to mark the social cost of a development project, the Kotmale reservoir under the Mahaweli development project.

The construction of mega dams is a controversial topic in development, globally. There are movements against big dam projects in India such as Sardar Sarovar of Narmada river, Tehri of the Bhagirathi river and Tipaimukh of Barak river. Three Gorges dam project in China, the largest dam in the world also incurred resistance from environmentalists and the affected people. The project displaced 1.3 million people from their ancestral homelands.

The main concern of development projects of this kind is negative environmental and social impacts. Threats such as landslides and floods, environmental destruction such as deforestation, negative impacts on biodiversity and displacement of people on a large scale are common issues.

These dam projects are for irrigation, urban water supply or hydro power generation and Sri Lanka has already exploited most of its potential in these areas and there are a number of mega dam projects covering all major rivers in the country.

With these projects we faced similar issues and especially in the accelerated Mahaweli Development project which created massive environment and social issues.

Construction work on the Mahaweli Maha Seya was started 30 years ago following a request of the people who were displaced by the Kotmale reservoir. The Kotmale dam constructed under the Accelerated Mahaweli development project caused significant socio-environment issues.

Around 7,000 families in over 20 villages in the Kotmale valley were displaced by this project. The damage to religious and cultural heritage of the people was massive and 18 Buddhist temples and two Hindu Kovils were submerged by the reservoir.

The people did not organise protest campaigns against the project or refuse to leave their homelands though it was a hard decision for them to leave their fertile lands in the Wet Zone with a mild climate and move into colonies in Polonnaruwa, Dimbulagala, Maduru Oya and Dehiattakandiya in the Mahaweli C, H and B Zones in the Dry Zone.

They had to restart their lives from scratch. They had to construct houses, prepare paddy fields and farmlands to start agriculture. Before leaving their villages where generations of their ancestors lived they called upon the then Mahaweli Development Minister, the late Gamini Dissanayake to build a religious place to commemorate the displaced people. He agreed to construct this Stupa and the construction work started in March 1983 but dragged on for over 30 years and came to a standstill in 1992 due to a variety of reasons. The stage two of the project was started in 2003 and in 2013 the government decided to speed up the project and provide funds. As a result today the construction work of the Stupa has been completed.

The 288-foot high Stupa is just two feet shorter than the Ruwanweli Maha Seya in Anuradhapura. The structure was designed by the late Dr. A. N. S. Kulasinghe and the initial estimated cost was Rs.120 million but has now increased manifold.

The people in Mawela, the only village left here still remember the sacrifice by their relatives and friends for the betterment of the country. Mawela village has a long history dating back to the Dutugemunu era of 161-137 BC.

According to history, Prince Dutugemunu was self exiled and lived in this area for over 12 years.

There are many legends stories relating to Prince Dutugemunu's life. There is a bathing place called Ranamune peella at the top of the paddy field in this picturesque village and people say that it was built by the Prince for bathing during his stay here.

Places such as the paddy field where the Prince worked, the irrigation canal built by him, the meadow where he grazed cattle, all have legends related to the Prince.

Families with the Lankapeli surname say that one of their ancestors hosted the prince at their home.

Jayasena Sikurajapathi, a villager said that three decades ago the villages on the opposite bank of the Kotmale Oya and those submerged in the reservoir were closely linked and interdependent. There had been a well-developed iron industry in Kirimanagoda and Nawangama villages where the people made agricultural tools and arms.

An iron foundry was located in Kottunugoda and the people in these villages were resettled in Maduruoya, he said. People complain that the peaceful life in these villages were ruined by the Kotmale project. According to legend the village has a history going beyond the Dutugemunu era. This prosperous village was a granary that supplied rice to the king. All the fertile paddy lands in the village were submerged by the reservoir.