By Garvin Karunaratne former G.A.Matara

President Gotabhaya deserves a bouquet for his new programme Waari Saubhagya which commenced today(6/2), with the restoration of Mahameegasweva in the Palugasweva area of the Anuradhapura District.

The restoration of the tanks in NuwaraKalaviya is an urgent need and it is a great feat to restore the tanks, the life blood of the people. In fact when I saw the D8 bulldozers- moving the earth in the tank bed at Mahameegasweva this morning on the Television, in nostalgia, I happily relived my days in 1963 when as Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services I was in charge of minor irrigation work in the Anuradhapura District. The Department of Agrarian Services had then taken over minor irrigation from the Government Agent and  I commenced  the restoration of neglected tanks.

Earlier when work was done on the tanks the work was entrusted to a contractor and generally the earth work was done with labour- on a piece rate- to dig and place earth on the bund. The Village Cultivation Officers made the plans, checked by a Cultivation Superintendent, finalised by a special Technical Assistant loaned from he Irrigation Department and the staff officer got involved when the last 25% had to get paid. On my inspections I found that the work done was inadequate and decided that the newly elected cultivation committees should get some tanks fully restored with D8 bulldozers. The Cultivation Committes were given the contract. My decision was resented by the Irrigation Officers but I had my way. I and the Technical Assistant Soma Jayawardena were present overseeing the D8 machine moving earth from the tank bed and mounting it onto the bunds when the first tank was restored, The tank bed was dug to the level of the lower sluice. The capacity of water held was  enormously increased. However though the farmers and the cultivation committees appreciated what we did the Village Cultivation Officers who resented my taking away the contracts from the contractors ganged against me and carried tales to Minister Maitripala Senanayake whom they knew as the Minister had himself once served as a Cultivation Officer. I had interdicted almost ten Cultivation Officers for irregularities by then. The Minister  reported me to our Ministry and I was given an immediate transfer- even ordered not to enter my office again. A few weeks later Soma Jayawardena, the Technical Assistant who cooperated with me on my investigations was also given a punitive transfer to Moneragala. With this move the Agrarian Services attempt at restoring tanks stopped abruptly. By then I had completed the restoration of only some four or five tanks.

Later the JVP commenced action to restore tanks when they were in office for a short period.

Thus the current programme by our President  is a great programme and with the Army also coming into the scene, I live in hope that a great future will dawn for the farmers in Nuwara Kalaviya.  The USA Army attends to a very large programme of development work. The City of New Orleans is below the sea level and the city is saved by levees built and carefully maintained by the army. When I motored to New Orleans I saw the Army in action at several places. The US Army is all over the country attending to development tasks all done in Sri Lanka by our civilian departments.  In the Columbia River Basin alone the US Army has done wonders building hydro electric schemes. These are stupendous structures the likes of which I have never seen anywhere else.  The US Army in its hydro electricity schemes produce some 44% of the total hydro power produced in the USA. We  foreigners think that the US Army is only used for war. In my travels in the USA I have met them everywhere in the Columbia River, in Yellowstone and in New Orleans. .  Similarly our Army has to be used for development work and this move of enlisting their services to restore tanks is a commendable move.

I have in my writings even suggested that our Army should put up wind turbines and we can save all the foreign exchange we spend on fuel for producing  electricity. Here our problem is that we are building wind turbines on the coast,  to turn with the mild coastal breeze, ignoring the shuddering wind power we experience in our mountains.  My book: Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Energy Requirements, published recently  which proves that we can build wind turbines easily, and can provide all the power we need within two years has been unfortunately  put on the back burner.

Alongside the restoration of the tanks, the irrigation administration needs to be addressed immediately. The tanks hold little water today because the tanks have been neglected in the past few decades. In ancient times the tank maintenance  and the administration of water was done by the Gamsabha, comprising village leaders and the administration was very effective, The British abolished the Gamsabha and instead the Government Agent attended to the irrigation administration through a Vel Vidane whom he appointed. This system got a boost with the enforcement of the Paddy Lands Act and its cultivation committees- elected bodies that worked with the participation of the farmers.  These cultivation committees ceased to exist after the abolition of the Paddy Lands Act.  This happened in 1978 and since then for the past five decades there has been no effective irrigation administration.  Yaya Palakas have been elected, rather appointed and there is total chaos which has led to the neglect of maintaining  the tanks as well as the cultivation of paddy land under the tanks. This has led to the siltation of tanks, neglect of canals and the lack of systematic cultivation. In 1999 I wrote:

What struck me most in this revisit was that the tanks,  the life blood  in NuwaraKalaviya has ceased to exist.  Looking at what was left of a tank I had to imagine that the small trail of earth jutting upwards a few feet at most  was the bund of the tank… looking at the edges of the tank… one could see encroachments on the upper reaches… Looking at the Jaya Ganga,  the master piece of engineering, where the gradient is some sections is less than six inches in a mile, the massive canal that brought the waters of the Kalaweva to the City tanks of Anuradhapura, it was clear that it too was neglected with vegetation blocking the flow of water.. A further problem is the cultivation of tank beds and encroachments,, Non conformists decide to cultivate the tank bed without authority. The tank bed is full of silt and gives a bumper crop. With the rains the upper reaches of the tank bed are tractor ploughed and with the first rains seed is sown. As the tank fills and the water reaches the illicit cultivation   the illicit cultivator damages the tank bund to save his crop.. Tankbed cuitivation  leads to siltation because the earth that has been tractor ploughed gets washed to the deeper sections of the tank bed.”(From: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka:Godages) 

Thus in the past five decades there has been total neglect and no proper system of irrigation administration and unless this is addressed the restored tanks will again get neglected. Perhaps this may please be addressed by our President. Perhaps Minister Basil Rajapaksa who is now organizing  an administrative system going down to the village level may please consider  looking  into this.. 

I enclose a  Summary of my book NuwaraKalaviya which has just been published by Godages which tells us of what is happening in Nuwara Kalaviya today. . .

SUMMARY

I can understand  disasters caused by natural calamities, but I cannot come to terms with the demise and destruction of the ancient irrigation tanks and its unique agricultural cultivation system in Nuwarakalaviya. 

The demise of the irrigation tanks(weirs) began with the abolition of Rajakariya by the Colebrook and Cameron Reforms of 1833. However the Government Agents and the  Cultivation Committees established under the Paddy Lands Act organized paddy cultivation and managed the distribution of irrigation water. When the Paddy Lands Act was abolished the cultivation  committees ceased to exist. The Yaya Representatives elected under the Agrarian Services Act were ineffective. This has led to the tanks being neglected, silted up and being encroached upon 

In the meantime The CDKU-Kidney disease has already caused the death of 40,000 and around a million are on death row. 

A once prosperous peasantry is lost for ever.

The administrative incompetence that has caused this is unfolded in these papers.  It is indeed a very sad story, where I too played a major role.  

However all is not lost. The lost administration can be brought back; the agricultural extension system can be built up, agriculture and agro industry can develop the economy of Nuwarakalaviya .

May this revelation reach the ears of our leaders.” 

From NUWARAKALAVIYA, (Godages: 2020) 

President Gotabhaya’s move to restore 5000 tanks takes care of my concerns in this book and I fervently wish Waari Saubhagya all success. I look forward to hear of a NuwaraKalaviya Deviyo sometime in the next four years.

Garvin Karunaratne

Ph.D Michigan State University 1978

SLAS, Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services, Anuradhapura 1963/64 & G.A. Matara 1971-73

Author of
How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternative Programmes of Success; Godages: 2006 

How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development:Godages/Kindle: 2017 

NuwaraKalaviya:Godages:2020 

Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Energy Requirements: Godages: 2019

7/2/2021,  Colombo