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Claims and counterclaims by church and lellama protesters continue despite interim order
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Fr. Anton Ranjith
By Walter Richard Perera
Despite the recent interim order given by the Negombo district court, the controversy and protests over the Negombo lellama or the fish auction bay continue.
The dispute went to court after the Catholic Church asserted its ownership over the lellama, the second largest in the country. It is situated at the north end of the Negombo Lagoon and can be viewed across the lagoon bridge.
Lellama in Portuguese means auction or sale. Fishermen who depend on it say the issue should not be taken as sellama (a game), as more than 5,000 boats set sail from here for fishing, and it is the main source of living for thousands of fisher families and others engaged in buying, selling, transporting, and providing services like food and drinks to the massive crowd that comes there from dawn to noon.
The controversy came to light after a group of fishermen claiming to be the leaders of the fishermen belonging to Pitipana Lellama protested in front of the Bishop’s House in Borella, shouting slogans against the Catholic Church.
Both the leaders of the Negombo Fisheries Lellama and those who showed solidarity with the cardinal belonged to the Pitipana parish.
In 1961, Rev. Fr. R.D. Charles took steps to set up the lellama in the present location after he saw the difficulties the fishermen went through at a dilapidated lellama in Kattiduwa.
He formed “Pitipana Meesame Eksath Dheewara Samithiya‘ for the benefit of the fishermen in Thalahena, Basiyawaththa, Aluthkuruwa, Mankuliya, and Pitipana, all in the Pitipana Parish, and appointed B. Benadict Fernando, a well-respected community leader, as the first president of it. Mr. Fernando, with advice from Fr. Charles, led the samithiya in the right direction, fishermen say. In 1963, Colombo’s then Archbishop, Thomas Cardinal Coorey, handed over the management of the Lellama to the Eksath Dheewara Samithiya in Pitipana through a gift deed.
But in 2008, as the conditions laid out in the deed had been violated by the management, Archbishop Oswald Gomis filed an action to revoke it.
Accordingly, Negombo’s District Judge Lalith Kannangara issued an interim order on February 2, 2024, to appoint a committee to take over the management of the lellama, now known as the Negombo Fisheries Market.
Lellama, now known as the Negombo Fisheries Market
Pitipana parish priest, Rev. Fr. Anton Ranjith, told the Sunday Times, “The lellama belongs to the church. The late Cardinal Thomas Coorey had given it as a gift deed to a group of fishermen who formed themselves as Eksath Dheewara Samithiya, subject to certain conditions. However, later, as the requirements mentioned in it had not been fulfilled, Bishop Oswald Gomis made the gift deed null and void. Now the present Cardinal, who is dedicated to seeking justice for people, wants to see that the earnings from this are distributed among all the fishermen in the surrounding villages.
Fr. Ranjith said the cardinal does not want a single cent from it.
However, the fishermen who are objecting to the church’s moves over the lellama said they always invited the parish priest to their annual general meetings. “We were very cooperative with the church. Whenever they asked for money, we provided it. Even the roof of the church was done with our money. Laying floor tiles at the altar was done by us. At every annual meeting, we present our budget. Every cent is accounted for by our treasurer,” a protestor said.
He contested the church’s claim that there was a clause in the agreement calling on the samithiya to share part of its income with the chruch to be spent on the needy.
“The church filed a case in 2006. Still, the case is going on. We are engaged in many social welfare activities among fishermen. For example, if a member meets with an accident and loses his life, we pay Rs. 100,000. In addition to this, we annually provide every child at our Pitipana Maha Vidyala with all the necessary books. So no one can say we are misusing the income,” he said.
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