KAMALIKA PIERIS

When the Accelerated Mahaweli project started, Gamini Dissanayake, Minister for Mahaweli had asked Ven. Ellawela Medhananda    to do a history of the Mahaweli region. While engaged on this, Medhananda had met Ven.  Kitalagama Seelalankara of Dimbulagala.

Dimbulagala and Medhananda decided that the best way to prevent Tamilisation of the east was to settle Sinhalese in the Maduru Oya area.    ‘We settled the excess population from Hingurakgoda and Minneriya, numbering 40,000 in Toppigala, Kunchanamalai,  Nelugala,  Atubandigala,  Vesibandigala and  Piyangala.    We informed President  JR  Jayewardene that we were going to settle Sinhalese there. JR was against this, but we  continued  with the project, recalled Medhananda  in his biography. [1] The dates of this settlement is not given.

Maduru Oya originates from Mahiyangana in the Badulla district. The Maduru Oya delta  begins   south of Polonnaruwa and ends up in Batticaloa district. The outer perimeter comes within Eelam”. Part of Maduru oya plains came within the administrative district of Polonnaruwa , the rest  was under Batticaloa. Polonnaruwa side was Sinhala dominated, the Batticaloa side was Tamil dominated 

Maduru oya delta contained about 125,000 acres of land. The delta runs up to the sea.  There were  many Tamil settlements along the sea coast. 126 Sinhala families had been settled  in the Wadamuni area in Batticaloa in 1953. There were smaller Sinhala settlements south of Maduru oya towards Ampara.  hoever,  most  Sinhala settlements were confined to Polonnaruwa and were very few, reported observers.  

Maduru Oya  land was  fertile but lacked water. Mahaweli water was to be diverted there. Mahaweli project planned to irrigate 115, 000 acres of  paddy  land. A  monumental transfer of settlers from the south was planned, said  analysts. Over 34,000 farmers could be settled at Maduru oya.

The Maduru Oya  project had two segments, Left bank and Right bank. Right bank included three divisional secretariats, Welikanda, Dimbulagala and Koralai pattu. There is a large extent of flat fertile lands under rain fed cultivation extending from Welikanda to Valaichchenai on the Right bank, said analysts.

Mahaweli authorities  decided to divert Mahaweli water to Maduru Oya and   develop the Right bank. The Feasibility Study of this Project was carried out by ACRES International Ltd in August 1980. Detailed designs of the right bank  main and branch canals were carried out in late 1981 and in 1982 with USAID financing. Mahaweli work  on Maduru oya  started in 1982-1983.

Tamil Separatist Movement had studied the Mahaweli plan carefully and had marked out two strategic locations where Sinhala settlements   could puncture Eelam.   One was Maduru oya.  While the right bank canal was being cut, Tamil Separatist Movement started encroaching on Maduru oya delta from Batticaloa.  Part of Maduru Oya   delta came under  GA  Batticaloa  .

In August 1983 we got news of large scale land grabbing at Maduru oya  while the 1983 riots were going on in Colombo, reported Malinga Gunaratne, who was working at the  Mahaweli Ministry at the time. [2]  Panic stricken messages were pouring into the Ministry stating that Tamils were encroaching on state land. Main thrust was in Maduru oya.  There was a massive encroachment of land on the right bank.

Maduru oya engineers spoke to Malinga. Malinga had access to the Minster  so they came to him. They were frantic. They said we are developing the Right Bank at enormous cost so that that entire nation would benefit. But by the time we finish work there will not be any land left for settlement.   It is all getting occupied by Tamil settlers.

This activity is being encouraged by Tamil officials from Batticaloa who are working closely with the separatist movement.   Politicians on the government side are also with these separatists. Please notify the Minister.  The engineers came a second time to Malinga. Please hurry, they said, she situation is becoming very serious.

In early August Malinga sent two Mahaweli officials to check on illegal settlements on Maduru Oya right bank. They reported that considerable Tamil settlements were coming up around numerous small tanks in Maduru oya. They were being made in a systematic and methodical manner. Food supplies were coming to the encroachers from an organized body.

More and more settlers were flocking in.  The delta was a hive of activity. Houses were coming up over night. Villages were given Tamil names, the few Sinhala settlers, mainly Vaddha were given Tamil names. District boundaries were being altered. The illegal Tamil settler was establishing himself with the active assistance of the Batticaloa administration.There were no Sinhala settlers in the area.

Malinga informed the   Director General, Mahaweli Authority, N.G.P. Panditeratne who took immediate action. Maduru Oya delta was a declared a Mahaweli area. GA Batticaloa had no authority over it thereafter.

 But apart from this, nothing was done to curb the illegal encroachment from Batticaloa. These encroachments did not engage the attention of any one. People in the south were not concerned, complained Malinga.   There was deliberate apathy at the top.

However, Mahaweli Minster   Gamini Dissanayake, when he heard, wanted an army post placed at Maduru oya. But Panditeratne was reluctant to contact the army   and the army was not stationed at Maduru oya. Gamini had also suggested to Malinga, Why you don’t settle some Sinhala people unofficially in Maduru oya. (Continued)

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[1]  Lakshman Kahatapitiya. Ellawela Medhananda hamuduruwo. P 312-314  

[2]  Malinga Gunaratne. For a sovereign state