First Project Manager System C (Mahaweli Programmes) Add. Sec. Ministry of Mahaweli Div. and UN/FOA expert Indonesia

After reading the Island article on 2nd April, 2009, under the above heading, I, too, wish to add a postscript by relating my experience regarding this cultivation programme which was initiated by the then UNP Government in about 1966 to 1970s. It was an experiment in large scale estate type cultivation by Public Companies. However, at the end it was a complete failure. Large extents of land, which consisted of jungle - stretching from Batalayaya and going up to Hebarawa and beyond in the Mahiyangane were given to a few large private companies for growing paddy. They cleared much of this original jungles and employed people to cultivate them like in the estates. The labourers were allowed to reside within these areas. The failure of this experiment proved another important theory that paddy cultivation in this country is essentially a rural occupation based on the customs and well organised social system.

At the outset it may be useful to know how I came to be involved in this area.

With the change of government after serving in the Sri Lanka Administrative. I was sent to the famous public service pool overnight somewhere in the 1980s. Not long after. I received a message from Minister of Mahaweli Development, Mr. Gamini Dissanayaka, to meet him at his residence.

I was cordially received by him and he offered me a job. He said that the Government is going ahead with the accelerated Mahaweli Programme and if I am agreeable to proceed to Giradurukotte he is ready to appoint me as the Project Manager in this newest and the first accelerated Mahaweli System, namely ‘System C’. I did not know where Giradurukotte lies, but said I am ready to take up the challenge. I was asked to proceed and took up my appointment.

My first visit was during the monsoon period and getting to Giradurukotte itself was a difficult task due to lack of a proper approach road. However, the necessary staff, both office and field were quickly recruited and we formally shifted to Giradurukotte. The surveyors and a few from the Mahaweli Engineering Staff had already gone ahead of us and were living in make-shift quarters. Soon some ready made housing units, made out of asbestos sheets, were imported from Indonesia and were set up within a few weeks for our accommodation.

I stayed for a short while at Hasalaka Circuit and made arrangements to move to Giradurukotte. It was at this point that we were told that there are some abandoned cultivation projects, which included housing units, available alongside the Mahaweli River. There were also a few old settlements. After exploring the area, we found a number of abandoned projects belonging to private companies.

Amongst others, the best was the Ceylon Tobacco Company agricultural project. We took over these camps and after repairing went into occupation. I went into occupation to one of the wooden cabins which was situated within a beautiful forest background. The Tobacco company had in fact had set up a settlement with their land allocated to them. There were about 30 to 40 houses said to have been designed by the famous architect Bewis Bava, built on the pattern of the Cotta Road Railway Quarters and had settled some people in the pattern of a government colonisation scheme.

Almost close to this land was the Mosagee Company allotments. At the time of our visit, one large bungalow built by them was infested with owls and serpents. We renovated and made it a circuit bungalow.

The road, by the Mahaweli River, stretched right down Hembarawa to Yakkura and ended up at Polonnaruwa via Dimbulagala. There was also the inner road that went via Giradurkotte. There wee pockets of small settlements along the banks of the Mahaweli River. Other than those who had been settled by the Companies, there were a few original settlements. They were people from the Badulla District who had fled as a result of the 1848.

Soon, work on the Mahaweli settlements was started with basic infrastructure. The first batch of settlers came from the nearby Badulu Oya region. Due to the need for the acceleration of the project and a shortage of labour and contractors we decided upon a new plan to accelerate the Mahaweli Programme.

This plan was aimed at solving the problem of the shortage of labour to work on the new irrigation infrastructure. Thus we introduced a "worker settler programme". Under this, once the Land Kachcheri selected the settlers, only the men were brought first to the’ site. They were accommodated in a number of large camps and organised into small groups. Each group was given a contract to cut the Irrigation canals (not the main one). The group was paid for the work done at the end of each week. This enabled us to accelerate the construction of the feeder canals in time. The camp was situated in the area where people are to be settled and they were told that this is going to be their own land in the future. As for facilities available to us at the beginning, there were none - no electricity, water was tapped from the river and above all the whole area was infested with deadly serpents, and animals. In spite of all these difficulties, we were able to see the settlement coming up and soon families were brought and the people were allocated their paddy allotments. The area was unpoliced and people had to go all the way to Mahiyangana for all their needs. There was absolutely no transport facilities. The main form of cultivation is chena cultivation and the fallow areas are also used for cattle farming.