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Photo focus: Lies, deception and elections
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Story and pix by Nayanajeewa Bandara, Monaragala Correspondent
While major infrastructure projects are planned for cities, in rural areas ordinary folk are left bereft even of basics.
For instance in some villages, people have to make do without such facilities like a simple bridge over a river to make their way to schools, markets or government institutions.
The village at Ellalanda, bordering the Badulla and Moneragala district is a case in point. People have been pleading with political authorities and officials for a bridge to be built across the river which flows between the Badalkumbura and Ellalanda.
Sadly their pleas have gone unheeded and villagers are forced to cross from one village to the other by wading across the river.
During periods of adverse weather when the river is in spate, the normal footpath becomes unusable and villagers are often forced to abandon efforts to get to office, school or hospitals.
At least six persons have died while trying to cross the river when it is in spate.
At these times villagers need to travel around 35 km via an alternative route to reach their destination at Badalkumbura, normally around five to six km distant.
At election time candidates of leading political parties unfailingly promise constituents priority will be given to construct a bridge over the river. But no sooner the elections are concluded the pledges are forgotten.
Once again elections are being called. The people of Ellalanda are appealing to the government to help them by constructing a bridge across the river.
The young and the old all must hang onto a simple rope for support when wading across surging waters.
While city dwellers travel in private cars or state buses, children of Ellalanda risk their lives crossing the river
Whether it’s to the ‘pola’, to school or work all must cross the river clinging to a single rope
The paddy fields at Ellalanda make a picturesque sight
A woman carrying a child gets a helping hand from a fellow villager
The people of Ellalanda are poor farmers and this may be the reason why they have been forgotten
The footpath from Ellalanda to Badalkumbura
The river has made all men and women equal. Even the Buddhist monk in the area has to wade through troubled waters