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The importance of the vote
Wives and children of the non resident fishermen join their husbands to leave for their registered voting stations
On 14 August, the Kalpitiya jetty was abustle with fishermen from the islands off the Kalpitiya peninsula. They had come to board buses and vans to reach their homes in order to vote on August 17.
While the number of voters registered within the islands off Kalpitiya –Battalangunduwa, Palliyewatte and Uchchumunai– account for only a couple of hundreds, there are nearly 1500 fishermen working here who are registered as voters in other areas of the country including Negombo, Chilaw, Pitipana, Merawela, Kaakkapalliye, Madampe and Kalpitiya.
These nonresident fishermen claimed they paid the highest cost in the country just to cast (our) vote.They explained, the trip from the island to the jetty and from there home alone, cost them more than 6,000 rupees per individual. Emmanuel, a fisherman from Battalangunduwa, added “we have to give up much, just to cast our vote.
“We leave for home a few days before elections, and return here after a week or so. We suffer a huge loss because of not working for so long. We do this because we realize the value of the vote. But none of the politicians we have voted into power ever give value to our vote” he said.
Photo Focus brings results
The islanders of the hazy blue Kalpitiya peninsula had all but given up hopes of voting at the forthcoming elections, as the only polling booth serving the14 islands was a costly drive away, unaffordable whether you took a tractor or a boat.
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka which noticed the Sunday Times ‘Focus’ of August 2 on the plight of the islanders, took up the matter with the Commissioner of Elections.
People waiting for public transport to take them to their villages
The HRC subsequently received a letter from the Additional Elections Commissioner U. Amaradasa, with the assurance that public transport would be provided to all islanders to reach the one and only polling booth at Mohottuwarama -for the first time in the history of elections.
According to the Assistant Elections Commissioner Puttalam, -A.M.M. Kabeer- four wheel drive vehicles will transport the poll workers on the evening of 16 (Sunday), while boxes will be transported the same evening by boats. Voters from the Kalpitiya islands, especially from Uchchimunai, will be provided with transport on the day of elections, by tractors operated by the Kalpitiya police, and a boat service operated by the Navy.
The most populous islands of Kalpitiya are Uchchimunai (200 families), Mohottuwarama (140 families), Palliyewatte (50 families), Keeri Mundalama, Battalangunduwa, and Roda Padui. According to the 2014 election register, there is a total of 609 voters in these islands.
A calm descends on the pier after the hustle and bustle of non-islanders having left for their home villages
Bag and baggage the fisher families leave for their home stations
Democracy in action: Despite difficulties, ignoring costs, fisher folk on their way to cast their vote in diverse districts
From the far flung islands they came… on their way to cast the all-important vote