Rumblings of revolt

Rumblings of revolt

• They won't budge
• PA members threaten to resign
• In Kadirana, police holding the key

By Leon Berenger in Nuwara Eliya

The scam is threatening to spread throughout the entire region. Already some 90 acres of farm land belonging to the state-owned Ambewela Farm and another at Seetha Eliya have been grabbed by some 700 families, cheered on by the area's SLFP politicians who boast of having the backing of a powerful politician from the area and loudly proclaim 'nothing can stop us.'

The local politicians say they are only fulfilling promises made by the Kumaratunga government to the landless people. 

M.B. Samarakone, an SLFP organizer in the area said promises of land made to the poor during elections should be fulfilled.

"A large number of people have no proper place to live in, and these are the same people who worked tirelessly for a PA victory. But now they have been ignored, and we were left with no option but to invade the farms. Of course, with political blessings from the very top," Mr. Samarakone said.

S. Selvarajah, 39, is a father of four children and vows never to budge from the 20-odd perches he grabbed for himself from the Ambewela Farm.

Just like several other people we spoke to, Mr. Selvarajah too claims he is a landless person who had worked night in and night out for the PA and felt it was legitimate to own a piece of state land through such a method. Legal action or police action means little to Mr. Selvarajah, and he intends to raise his family on the farm land he took possession of .

What has irked people here even more is that the authorities had given nearly 300 acres of state-owned land to private companies and multinationals for various projects such as growing cut flowers and strawberries while ignoring the people. "We will not budge one inch. The land is for the poor, and that is the end of it," says P.M. Punnidasa, who leads the opposition in the UNP led Pradeshiya Sabha of Nuwara Eliya.

"We have tentatively decided to divide the land among the needy, irrespective of caste, creed, religion, race or political affiliations. With elections looming it will be suicidal for the Government to ignore the voter and try to eject them from the occupied lands," Mr. Punnidasa said.

He said that in a large number of cases some six to seven families were forced to live in a single hut, making life intolerable.

"While more and more outsiders are allowed to take up land the local people are being forced into the bush," he said.

And while all these things are happening, farm officials are seething in silent rage at the developments saying the entire region was turning into bandit country. But at the same time they are too scared to have themselves identified.

The invasion at Ambewela began on May 2, after some 300 families led by a firebrand local politician coolly stormed into the farm and began demarcating plots of land for themselves, while the police who allegedly knew it, were nowhere in sight, say officials.

Farm officials have made at least 10 complaints to the local police, who have silently acknowledged that their hands are tied owing to the high degree of political patronage extended to the offenders.

Officials fear that with this invasion, there would be a serious threat to the environment, as more digging will lead to soil erosion while water pollution will make it unsafe for the cattle to graze on the grassland. The happenings at Ambewela have also brought to an abrupt halt moves by a private company to take over the farm under a government sanctioned agreement.

The company says it will not move in with all these problems and has asked the authorities to clear the area before they could begin operations. Officials at the farm are happy to hand the place over to a private company because they predict an improvement in the business which will also help protect the environment and provide assistance to the villagers.

"We are also happy to note that under the agreement the private company has stated that it will stick to 90 per cent of the present methods used at the farm while giving a firm pledge to protect the natural environment. One cannot expect anything more," a senior farm executive said. "At present the Government is suffering losses running into millions of rupees annually and this just cannot be allowed to continue," he added. The officials also said the management and staff at the farm were under some form of threat through various posters apparently put up by the land grabbers.

The police for their part put it bluntly: "This is a matter which is tied up with heavy politics that has forced the police to halt in its tracks. Any attempt to forcibly remove the people from the land will be futile, and could even cost a policeman his job," one officer who did not wished to be named for obvious reasons told The Sunday Times.

At Seetha Eliya, some monks in the Buddhist temple are allegedly leading the land-grab, with some 700 families forcibly occupying nearly 40 acres of land belonging to the Agriculture Ministry.

Ministry officials are too scared to utter a word for apparent fear of losing their jobs, should they take on the politicians. All this only helps the land grabbers, who see themselves as an invincible force.

Gunasinghe Suriyaperuma is the leader of the Opposition in the UNP-led Nuwara Eliya Municipal Council, and is allegedly leading the land grab. With his firebrand type of approach he is making much ground with little or no opposition.

He justifies the invasion of the farm lands by saying pre-election promises must be honoured, one way or another. 

What is happening at Ambewela and Seetha Eliya is just the tip of the mountain, promising more similar moves as the cry for more land by the poor increases, warns Mr. Suriyaperuma who boasts for nearly three decades of socialist politics.

"In August last year President Kumaratunga made a written pledge to provide some 210 acres of land to the poor, but since then nothing really has happened," he said.

"Look at it this way. Even the workers living in estate line rooms have now acquired at least seven perches of land apart from their line room abodes, thanks to much campaigning by their union leaders and political representatives. But for the people on higher ground there is nothing except empty promises that are repeated," Mr. Suriyaperuma said.

"I have no regrets about the ongoing land grab, as I honestly feel it is justified on humanitarian grounds," he said.

Mr. Suriyaperuma fiercely denied charges that most of the land grabbers were his close associates and have the means to live a comfortable life. Some of them even have farms of their own, the critics say.

Mr. Suriyaperuma dismisses these charges saying they were the utterances of his political opponents who are apparently protesting purely for the sake of protesting. "I do not takes these things seriously," he said. He said that under the former UNP administration, Gamini Dissanayake allocated lands for distribution among his supporters and party hurrah boys. It is not the case this time. Green, blue or red we intend to be fair by every person, Mr. Sooriyaperuma said.

They won't budge

In August last year President Kumaratunga ordered Land Minister D. M. Jayaratne to allocate 210 acres of state land from Seetha Eliya, Uda Radella, Kandapola, Meepilimanne and Pedro to the landless. But so far nothing has come out of this order, although it is nearing one year, Mr. Suriyaperuma claimed. Even if they were given it is still not enough, said Mr. Suriyaperuma.

"For example, a family will receive something like ten perches each which is inadequate for cultivation. Furthermore, the President assured us that the land issue will be solved by the end of this month, but since there were no steps in that direction, we decided on the grab," he said.. Mr. Suriyaperuma said there were large portions of state farms remaining idle with little or no activity. For example there are 7000 acres of land at the Bopatalawa cattle farm, but only 1000 acres are put to use, with the rest idling. The situation is similar in other farms as well, including Ambewela, he said. Another move to take over 115 acres of land from unviable state-owned tea estates also encountered trouble after the plantation workers backed by their unions and sometimes the management made strong objections. 

The people are ready to defy the law and even go to jail but they will not leave the land they have taken over, Mr. Suriyaperuma vowed.

PA members threaten to resign

"Enough is enough, we will definitely quit office if the authorities do not take action to provide land to the landless as promised during and after the recent elections," P.M. Punnidasa, Leader of the Opposition in the UNP-led Pradeshiya Sabha told The Sunday Times.

"The Government routinely doles out land to wealthy private businessmen and the likes, but when it comes to the poor man's share everyone is looking the other way," he said. The intention of the PA members in Nuwara Eliya has already been notified to President Kumaratunga through a letter dated June, 20.

In Kadirana, police holding the key

Wayamba Plantations, the company which manages some 300 acres of coconut plantations in the Kadirana-Kimbulapitiaya area, has taken over the estate after it made a complaint at the Negombo Police.

"We are awaiting permission from the Plantations Monitoring Unit to make our next move," said W. Halpe, director of Wayamba Plantations which suffered damages amounting to Rs. 9.5 million when thousands of coconut trees were cut and moved by land grabbers.

Plantation Ministry Secretary Andrew de Silva said they were awaiting a report from the Negombo Police before any further steps were taken.

When The Sunday Times contacted the Negombo Police, the OIC refused to comment but requested that we visit the police station for any information.

The Guest Column 

Editorial/ Opinion Contents