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Farmers raise the stakes against Uva-Wellassa land grab
View(s):Farming families in Uva-Wellassa region today ripped up fencing erected around a public land demarcated for a sugar factory to be built by a Singapore company with links to a Sri Lankan partner.
The farmers are organised under a civic group being advised by a monk from the area and are campaigning against a land grab by a multinational, while dispossessing traditional farmers. The farmers marched to the site last morning and ripped out tree branches marking a boundary.
Traditional farmers challenge a land grab in Uva-Wellassa by a multinational with a Sri Lankan partner
The Uva-Wellassa People’s Rights Protection Front leader, Samantha Vidyarathna, spoke at the site and declared the boundary fencing illegal and that the environmental impact assessment of the site had lapsed more than two years ago. He said this was revealed in Parliament recently when JVP leader Anura Kamara Dissanayake raised its legal status.
Singapore-based Gazelle Ventures and Sri Lanka’s IMS Holdings are involved in a sugarcane project, the group said.
Mr Vidyarathna said the villagers will not give up their rights to 65,000 hectares of precious lands, which also include cultural sites, lush forests, farmland, and traditional villages including those of Adiwasi communities. He was referring to the Dambane Wannila Aththo’s community in Mahiyangana, and Suda Wannila Aththo’s people in Maha Oya, Ampara. There are also the Rathugala Neegala Adivasi people of Bibila.
“This is a historic struggle to protect historic lands,’’ Vidyarathna said. “This is a struggle not just for the Uva-Wellassa, but also for the sake of our country’s lands.’’
Mr Vidyarathna reminded farmers gathered that multinationals had lined up to grab 65,000 hectares in 2005 under then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and then again under Yahapalana leader Maithripala Sirisena. They were both forced to back down by determined farmers, he said.
He said the plan had been to hand over land in Uva and Eastern Provinces as well as Ampara, Monaragala, and Badulla Districts to overseas companies.
The group is being supported by many other civic groups, including the Centre for Environmental Justice and the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform. A human rights petition has been filed by the farmer group.
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