A tragedy of the survivors

The first anniversary of the gruesome terrorist claymore bomb attack on a packed passenger bus at Kongollewa, Kebetigollewa, that claimed more than 60 lives and injured an almost equal number, fell on June 16. The Sunday Times visited the region earlier this week to see the plight of survivors and the security measures in place to prevent the recurrence of such attacks.

The carnage of that day is especially felt by those who lived at Yakawewa, for this farming village lost the most number of people, 54, and the result is that out of 128 families in the village, 45 families, most of whom lost one or more family members are yet in a camp for the displaced in Kebetigollewa.

Some might say many of them are staying on because of the free assistance, but the truth is that all assistance has been stopped and it is a miracle that they are still surviving on a barren piece of land carved out of a small hill called Boralu Kanda.

Kebetigollewa Divisional Secretary H. J. M. Herath confirmed that all state assistance to them had already been stopped as funds were no longer forthcoming from the government. In the past, the allegation against NGOs was that they totally ignored Sinhala villages that faced LTTE violence, but today, NGOs are virtually barred from these areas for fear their Tamil employees could be spying for the LTTE.

So, all that the people have now are the temporary tin roofed shelters provided by the ICRC, the only NGO permitted to operate freely in the entire region, up to the controversial Weli Oya. And it is the ICRC that has provided basic farm implements, seeds and some hand tractors for hundreds of others that fled Yakawewa and surrounding villages like Thalgahawewa, Nikawewa and Kanugahawewa after the attack to resettle and restart their lives. Although the displaced living at Boralu Kanda are refusing to budge, it is apparent that even the ICRC is not being encouraged to give them any assistance here.

Mr. Herath who had voluntarily come here in the aftermath of the attack to assist the then Divisional Secretary as a relief officer and has stayed on to serve the region says that there is a limit to what he can do for the affected people. Under existing government regulations no more than Rs.25,000 can be paid to each family if they are willing to resettle in their original homes and as this sum is hardly adequate considering the cost of things today, the DS is trying to obtain additional assistance from NGOs willing to help.

Out of about ten displaced people we spoke with at the Boralu Kanda camp, only two, a father and his son said they remained there for reasons other than security. Ayurvedic physician P. Dissanayake and his son said they were there for economic reasons. According to Dr. Dissanayake most of his patients are from areas outside Yakawewa and now very few people come to Yakawewa due to security fears and poor transport facilities. From the centrally located Kebetigollewa he was able to conduct dispensaries in several places.

All others cited security fears as the reason for them not returning to their homes. B. Kamalawathi who lost her husband in the bus blast said that the only reason why she survived was that she fell between two seats at the time of the explosion. Though she had recovered from her wounds she is still suffering from severe back pain requiring constant medical attention. Out of her three children only the son is employed as a home guard, while the two young daughters are studying at the Kebetigollewa Central College.

The main reason she attributed to her refusal to return to Yakawewa was that her two daughters are scared to travel by bus since that incident. She and her children are surviving on the son’s salary and the compensation of Rs.150,000 received for the loss of her husband.

M. Chandrawathy who had lost her husband Herath Banda, who too was a home guard, said she with her two small children aged eight and five could not possibly go back to live in their home situated at the edge of the village. Her immediate neighbours too had either died in the blast or had fled the area.

According to Chandrawathy even those who have returned to the village gather at a central location for the night for fear of attacks.

M. Mallika, a relative of Chandrawathy, who had lost her husband in 1997 in a previous LTTE attack, lost her only son in the bus blast. Her woes are many. Those who guarded their village in their absence had stripped and looted much of her household, including doors and electrical wiring and fittings and elephants had devoured much of her fully grown plantation, including 36 coconut trees and 12 jak fruit trees, a plight faced by most others who ran away from their homesteads. “I received only Rs.50,000 as compensation for my lost son, but I need more than Rs.100,000 to restore my six-roomed house to a livable state”, she complains.

Out of her three daughters, the government has given employment to the eldest as a clerk at the Road Development Authority, the other two aged eight and ten are yet schooling. “How can I go back and live with three girls in a house without doors and windows?” asks Mallika.

M. Yasawathy’s only daughter Nirosha Chathurangani had died in the attack while she was on her way to attend a class. Yasawathy said she could not possibly go back with the death of not only her daughter, but several of her close relatives.

When we visited Yakawewa village on Tuesday some families were yet holding alms-giving for their dead relatives on this first anniversary over several days as there aren’t enough monks to have them all in one day.

Even those who have returned most carry physical and mental scars from the incident and their tales of woe are endless. In a house where an alms giving was being held we met a cross section of survivors, almost all of whom are relatives.

M. Ratnayake (50), who had lost the proper use of both his hands as a result of the injuries he suffered, recalled that there were possibly about 200 people packed into that bus from the village that day as many of them were going to attend a funeral at Maha Kuchchikudiya of a nephew, a home guard killed by the LTTE.

Ratnayake said he lost a total of 20 family members in the blast. The only ones to survive from his immediate family are his second son and a daughter, both of whom too are physically and mentally scarred. He has a hard time keeping control over them as they are for ever fighting. Ratnayake unable to do any proper work with his mangled hands obviously has befriended Bacchus with the compensation money he had received for lost relatives.

Another survivor, M. Chandrasena whose son Ratnasiri was killed in the blast is still concerned about the security. He said the bunker line that had been built from Weli Oya to nearby Dutuwewa after the attack was far too close for comfort.

U.B. Piyadasa of Dutuwewa said though the bunker line stretching some 26 kilometres was built up to Dutuwewa police post and manned day and night by home guards and army, there was a wide gap from there onwards for about 12 kilometres in thick jungle through which the Tigers continued to infiltrate and carry out attacks, specially along the old Kebetigollewa-Vavuniya Road, where the bunker line had been halted at the sixth mile post. This once busy roadway has been closed since the devastating bomb attack, but that has not prevented the Tigers from carrying out several hit and run attacks, despite the presence of several police posts along the route.

Piyadasa in fact managed to take us on this road up to the sixth mile post, past several police posts as if we were proceeding to several graphite mines in operation in the nearby jungles. When we reached the sixth mile post the policemen there were shocked to see us and requested us to get back immediately. But it was obvious to anyone how easy it is for the Tigers to strike at will as the left side of the road was entirely covered in thick jungle without a bunker line to prevent infiltration from that side.
Ven. Viharahalmillawe Dhammarakkitha Thera the chief monk in the area said they had already made representations to the government to get the bunker line extended to achieve this task, but he saw the virgin thick jungle as a spoiler.

Security sources in the region too said that as it was thick jungle they would require a much larger contingent of additional personnel to achieve the task. It was not only the bunker line that has to be secured, but even approach and supply paths.

Another grave complaint of many of those returnees is the inadequate transport to affected villages as there was only one bus to serve them all. M. Sumanawathy of Dutuwewa said often her children do not attend school when the bus does not turn up and when the bus is not there in the afternoon the children had to trek back on foot from Kebetigollewa.

W. Ariyadasa said families who had motorcycles manage to send their children to school when the bus does not arrive, but others simply stay at home.

But the military that is responsible for the security of the area are not unaware of these problems. Military sources said they somehow try to ensure that the single bus does at least five turns for a day. And they had distributed about 150 bicycles among schoolchildren of the affected villages provided by philanthropists.

The military has even obtained 50 scholarships for some of the affected children. The government employing several thousand home guards at Rs.480 per day too has given a tremendous boost to these people, who will be otherwise left to fend for themselves.

Our visit to the Kebetigollewa CTB depot was a real eye opener as to the type of neglect the area had been subjected to despite it being most vulnerable. We counted about 50 unserviceable buses left exposed to the elements. When we asked the Depot Superintendent E. Malalaratne, why nothing was being done to auction them, he maintained he was not empowered to do so.

According to the DS, who had only assumed duties early this year he needed 54 buses to run services according to time table, but he had only 25 in road worthy condition.

He had received only one bus since assuming duties to replace the one destroyed by the terrorist attack. The salaries of employees for the month of May are in arrears to the tune of Rs1.5 million and we saw many employees arguing over their balance salaries and the DS does not know how he would meet this month’s salaries either.

With 254 employees for 25 buses one can imagine the plight of the depot. This region being far flung and the roads being badly maintained, he says one cannot expect to turn a profit by simply adding buses either as some of the areas they are serving have only about 30 families and a single violent incident is enough to drop the passenger load to zero.

Mr. Malalaratne says the only money earner for them are the Kebetigollewa- Anuradhapura and Kebetigollewa- Pulmudai routes, but here, they have to compete with private operators, who shun all other interior routes where the wear and tear is very high on vehicles and even the consumption of diesel is excessive due to the bad state of those roads.