Vavuniya, thousands of farmers risk eviction: “We've been here for over 40 years”
Tomorrow, 15 August, is the deadline set by the Mahaweli Authority for “unauthorised possession of government land”. Over 500 families have already left out of fear. Farmers tell AsiaNews: ‘The army supported us, we survived the war.’ The crops have been there since 1955, then resumed in 2010 due to an attack by the Tamil Tigers.
Vavuniya (AsiaNews) - Over 3,600 farming families in the district of Vavuniya, about 15 kilometres from the ancient city of Anuradhapura, have been ordered to leave their land by tomorrow, 15 August. Their decades-old ancestral land is now in jeopardy.
The farmers claim to have been cultivating the land for over 40 years and to have survived the civil war thanks to the support of the Sri Lankan government army.
They had received a notice from the Mahaweli Authority, inviting them to renounce their ‘unauthorised possession of government property’. The official directive has caused great concern and prompted community leaders to seek help.
As a result, the future of farming families in the Vavuniya district hangs in the balance. Siyadoris Appuhamy, 65, Jayasinghe Wijepala, 63, and Gunapala Amarakeerthi, 59, all farmers, told AsiaNews about their difficult situation.
‘Even during the ethnic conflict, despite threats from the LTTE (Tamil Tigers, ed.), we continued to cultivate the rice fields and the Sri Lankan army supported us in these difficult times, providing us with drinking water, food and fertilisers.’
They added: ‘We fled the area in 1985 after an LTTE attack, but we returned in 2010 once the war ended. We built our homes, raised our children and survived the war.’
Rice cultivation began in 1955, in their parents' time, near the Andarawewa reservoir. "In 1980, the Vavuniya District Secretariat officially handed over the land to us. However, on 7 July this year, officials from the Mahaweli Zone L officially issued an eviction notice to residents on charges of illegally occupying state-owned land," they added.
The letter was signed by an engineer from the Authority and addressed to a resident named Bimal Dharmadasa, president of the Andarawewa Farmers' Organisation.
‘According to the notice, farmers were asked to relinquish their unauthorised possession of state-owned land,’ the farmers told AsiaNews. The document orders residents to vacate their properties and return them to the Mahaweli Authority, specifically to the head of the Veherathenna division of Zone L, by tomorrow.
‘In recent weeks, we have tried to meet with senior officials of the Authority, but we have not received any favourable response,’ the farmers complained.
Over the years, thanks to the work of the community, the jungle surrounding the land has been cleared, houses have been rebuilt and rice fields and vegetable gardens have been cultivated, following the destruction caused by the war.
The farmers also claim that for years they have received subsidies for fertilisers, paid taxes to the Mahaweli Authority and cultivated with the approval of the government, particularly under the ‘Saubagya Production Village Programme,’ which initially covered 40 acres and was subsequently expanded.
According to Bimal Dharmadasa, “the pressure over the land began after the Vanni district MP Mayilvaganam Jegatheeswaran visited the area”.
Other politicians currently in government, including Aruna Chandrasekera of Vavuniya, are also supporting attempts to remove the farmers. ‘Immediately after the visit, the Mahaweli Authority's Zone L issued the order. Over 500 families have already left out of fear.’
‘In recent weeks, we have written letters, organised meetings and appealed to the authorities, but no one has helped us,’ he added. Meanwhile, Dharmadasa and ten other farmers travelled to Colombo to seek help from the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), a Buddhist organisation.
At the BBS headquarters, the secretary general, the Venerable Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, assured his strong support for the farmers' cause.
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