Little Batti has also adverted to the prolonged dry season which accentuates water shortages during several months of the year. Is it at all feasible for people to collect rain water from the house roofs in large containers like in the Maldives, for example, to augment their needs during the dry season. There may be initial costs involved but thereafter it will be free of water leviesa as on the ‘island’. Of course such a scheme may not at all be feasible with thatched roofs. Besides roofs have to be kept free of the ubiquitos crows by some protective means. Just an idea.

The local people of Manmunai West perhaps have been one of the most neglected communities in SL even before the war. They need a break out of the vicious circle of extreme poverty and rancour at least now.

In the ADB Document (report and recommendation about a loan for the SECONDARY TOWNS AND RURAL COMMUNITY-BASED WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION PROJECT (www.adb.org/Documents/RRPS/SRI/rrp_sri_31501.pdf) you can read the following:
“The construction of this scheme may require raising the Unnichchai Tank bund to increase raw water availability for domestic consumption.
During construction, the tank water level may have to be lowered to below the level where the tank can provide water. This may deprive for ONE dry season the source of livelihood of 1,898 farmers and 2,200 wage laborers who depend on the tank for irrigation, and 177 fishers who may not be able to fish for one year. Although engineering solutions to avoid disrupting irrigation are still being explored, NWSDB has prepared a draft compensation plan in the event that the people will be affected by the tank augmentation.”

Whether these compensations were paid is a big question. I havent heard of it.

BUT the point is that they say ITS FOR ONLY ONE YEAR.
So lets hope that the dry season this year will not be as depriving as that of last year.

I am well aware about the water situation in Manmunai West and thank Little Batti very much for this great article which gives a v. good insight in the actual situation and analysis.
I have one little addition:

Another reason behind the scenes is the cutting of governmental subsidies for Water AND the profit orientation of the Water Board who administers and sells the UnnichchaiWater. Most probably profit orientation/cutting of subsidies/privatisation(?) was a condition of getting the project funds. This way, it is simply not profitable for the Waterboard to run outlets (water tap and possibly treatment plant) in such scarcely populated areas.

About privatisation of public goods such as Water please refer to cases in Latin America where most of the Water was privatised which resulted in high prices and a very unequal access to water (e.g. Nicaragua, Brazil, Chile etc) – which again often resulted in public riots . However, here you can also study new public water management approaches from which all citizens benefit (e.g. Porto Allegre and other towns in Brazil, Venezuela).

With accepting WorldBank money and projects, taking credits from IMF and the like, Sri Lanka sells its souvereignty – not the sovereignty of the ruling elites but the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan people who will have to suffer the results of profit orientation and privatisation of public goods. What happens to the villagers of Manmunai West ist just that and just one exampe how it works and what will come in the future. And thats not only a question of ethnicity or religion. Thats a question of power and money!

I’m just not sure which demographic, National or “Eastern Provincial” (not sure what the term should be), to use when settling folks into newly opened areas in the east. I’m referring here to Migara’s post above.

However, when I see Sinhalese in the south welcoming with open arms whole new communities of Tamils moving in under government resettlement programs to share the benefits of projects there , then I’ll tell Tamils in the east to get over their fears of being overwhelmed.

We all know that resettlement and ethnic balance is a very touchy subject here. Rightly or wrongly, there is fear among some Tamils in the east of Tamil culture and political power being diluted. It’s one of the reasons given for the war, and was used as an excuse for atrocities against Sinhalese. As I said before, my big hope is that we don’t blindly repeat past actions and find ourselves at war again in another generation.

You’re right of course to say that no one wants to live where there is no water. But abandoned land can be used in the future for water and settlement schemes.

I have no idea if this is the “plan” in the Division mentioned in the article. Probably not. But I bet there are people who think it is. I mean, everything here is automatically politicized. I wish it wasn’t so. What did Freud say: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

Colombo is a different situation. As far as I know, there haven’t been any government programs to settle anyone from any group outside Colombo into Colombo. And I think that’s what makes it different. It seems a bit more organic than State programs to open lands with an eye towards favoring one group (any group) over another. If a big development scheme is completed in a Sinhalese area, then the majority of beneficiaries ought to be Sinhalese, especially if they are local to that area. These project should help local people first, whatever the ethnicity. I think that’s reasonable, yes?

I would be interested in knowing if there have been any similar situations in other areas, meaning that one area has suffered because a project was built on their lands to benefit a different area. I’m interested because I would like to know what those people did about it, if anything, and what the results were. Does anybody have any examples to offer?

“Unless, of course you are trying to imply that the authorities are trying to force people to abandon their land by thirst, thus freeing it up for settlement by non-Tamils?”

Why would non-Tamils emigrate to a place where there is no water?????

“Although I’m not Tamil, personally I don’t see the problem with Tamils wanting to be the majority in those Districts where they already are the majority. I mean, Sinhalas control all the other Districts already, yes?”

How would you feel if you heard Sinhalese insisting that Colombo or Nuwara Eliya should have Sinhala majorities?

If the project is funded by foreign aid, how are Sri Lankan taxpayers paying for it?

At any rate, what about those people who may be forced off their lands, if it should happen, through the lack of water the writer talks about? Maybe they should get priority for any newly developed land.

How can one reconcile the Provincial demographics with the national ones? In the east they are two different things. I think in Batticaloa District, there is a large majority of Tamils, whereas nationally Sinhalese are the big majority. When trying to settle newly developed lands in Batticaloa, which demographic do one try to follow? And wasn’t the settlement of Sinhalese in Trinco district one of the main complaints (right or wrong) of both Tamils and Muslims, and a contributing factor to the war? Would doing the same in Batticaloa contribute to more strife?

I’m just worried about repeating past actions that could bring our beautiful country to war again.

At any rate, the article is about this Chinese project, not about Mahaweli.

State-sponsored Sinhalese settlements backed by military bases. I am not a Tamil either, but if I were, even I would oppose that.

You may be aware that inner Batticoloa district is under the Mahaweli development scheme. Mannar, Vavuniya and part of Mullativu also included in original project. I feel this is the only lasting solution for water problem in Batticoloa. Leave the party politics, what ever they do have to have long term success. The only possible long term solution is diverting Mahaweli water to east.

//personally I don’t see the problem with Tamils wanting to be the majority in those Districts where they already are the majority

The Mahaweli project is funded by foreign aid, and every Sri Lankan is paying that through taxes. Everyone should have equal chance to resettle in developed lands, since everybody is equally paying back. Then people who lose their livelihood due to the project has to be resettled in developed land, because they are the ones who gave most.

IMHO Mahaweli project should be completed as it is the only realistic plan that can provide water to East. And resettlement should be planned according to the national and provincial demographics both.

Hello.

I’m not sure why you brought up Tamil chauvinism and non-Tamil settlements. The article is about a division in Batticaloa and the problems with a water project. Mr. (or Madame – sorry again, Atheist!) Batti specifically says this isn’t a religious or ethnic issue but an environmental one caused by local Tamil politics.

Unless, of course you are trying to imply that the authorities are trying to force people to abandon their land by thirst, thus freeing it up for settlement by non-Tamils? Batti doesn’t say this.

Although I’m not Tamil, personally I don’t see the problem with Tamils wanting to be the majority in those Districts where they already are the majority. I mean, Sinhalas control all the other Districts already, yes? And I thought that we all are Sri Lankans, despite what ethnicity we happen to be born in. At least that’s what I read the President and others saying in the papers.

But again, that’s not the subject of the article; let’s keep to the topic on hand.

One thing that Batti does not address, and maybe he can’t, is this: who is getting the money? Such a project is probably expensive. Water aside, someone is benefiting financially, you can be sure of that!