Borupana: Heart- burn after the fire

On September 30, The Sunday Times published the heart- rending story of some of the December 2004 tsunami survivors based in a temporary shelter in Anura Mawatha, Borupana, Ratmalana who had to face a similar tragedy when their ‘homes’ were destroyed by a fire that originated from an electrical short.

Two weeks after, when we visited the campsite once again, we saw tents had been put up to provide some shelter for these displaced families. They had also received some immediate relief in the form of cooked food, dry rations, cooking utensils and clothes. The tents were given to the affected families by the Red Cross. Yet, the families are disgruntled. Theirs is a story of desperation and they talk of suicide if they are left to live in, what they call a ‘miserable condition of living’.

“Stay inside these tents for 10 minutes during the day, you will feel as if you are burning. It gets worse when it rains because the tents get flooded then. Our children fall ill; either they get soaked and catch fever or they get itchy rashes all over their bodies due to the heat,” cries Lakshman Suranjith who spoke to The Sunday Times on the previous occasion as well.

“We do the cooking outside because we are unable to cook inside the tents but when it starts raining, half way through we have to stop preparing the meals. So rain means starvation for us. These are just a few of the hardships we undergo, but who is there to see our suffering?” Lakshman’s wife said. While they are agonized by the present conditions in which they are compelled to live, the fact that they feel they are being deceived seems to irk them the most.

“The promises they (the officials) make are never fulfilled. When we go to the Pradeshiya Sabha and kachcheri to tell them about our hardships, the officers tell us they haven’t received money from the government.

“But they have money to renovate their offices. What happened to all the money which was allocated for the tsunami-affected like us?” asks Mervin Fernando holding a partially paid tsunami relief ration card, which he claims is evidence enough of the ill-treatment they have been subjected to.

However, on contacting the Moratuwa Divisional Secretary D.S. Somapala, The Sunday Times learns that assistance would be extended even to those displaced by the fire under the general scheme to help out the tsunami affected to receive an initial payment of Rs. 250,000 for any land they wish to purchase, after they submit the necessary deeds and documents.“When releasing the grants for the relocation process, those displaced by the fire will be given priority,” the Divisional Secretary said.

“Only nine families, out of the 31 whose houses were destroyed by the fire, have so far submitted the required documents and out of that eight have been selected for the initial grant of Rs. 250,000,” he said. Some in the camp site do not show an interest in submitting the required documents maybe due to their reluctance to move to interior areas where the land is available, the DS added.

Those affected, however, refute the allegations saying that all of them have handed over the documents to the Divisional Secretariat through the Grama Sevaka, although the latter sometimes claims otherwise.

“There are pregnant mothers among those affected by the recent fire, can they live comfortably in a tent like this? Where will they keep the new born babies? To date, not a single Minister has come to see our suffering whereas during election time they come begging for the vote. We are not asking for money; what we want is a permanent place to live,” they chorused.

Tagged as ‘displaced’ they seem to shift from one temporary shelter to another. When will there be an end to this vicious cycle?