News
1500 families affected by the flooding of Kadupitiya Oya
View(s):- Text and pix by Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe
More than 2,000 acres of paddyland in the Mahawewa Divisional Secretariat are under threat of floods due to the breaching of the Kadupitiya Oya bund following the heavy rains.
Residents in the areas of Kudawewa, Mahawewa, and Gal Amuna are also under threat.
The waters overflowing from Deduru Oya and water coming in from Narammala and Kuliyapitiya flow through the Kadupitiya Oya before entering the Hamilton canal.
The breached Kadupitiya Oya
K.A.Premaratne
Four years back when the bund breached, damaging paddyland, the Disaster Management Centre, the Divisional Secretariat, and farmers’ associations together put up sandbags as a temporary measure, which however have not withstood the recent heavy rains.
Although authorities constructed a stone bund, this too is broken.
Despite complaints to political authorities the situation has not improved. With each flood the paddyland is threatened. About 60 feet of the bund has got washed away and some 1,500 families are affected currently.
Rohana Dissanayake, a resident, commented “the left bund had been damaged and we repaired it using sandbags. The concrete bund also could not withstand the flood pressure. Officials come and go without offering us a solution. The railway crossing also gets flooded. We have no one to turn to for help”.
Rohana Dissanayake
Sisira Jayalath
T. Premaratna Zoysa says that officials visit and assure they will repair the bund, but the problem remains unsolved. “Each time it floods we sandbag, but it’s only a temporary measure. We need a permanent solution. This time our entire crop was damaged. All that the farmers spent on their crop got wasted. We appeal to the Government to look into this problem and provide a permanent solution.” Sisira Jayalath said that this stretch of paddyland is high-yielding and is cultivated in both yala and maha seasons. Each season the paddy yield is worth about 75 million Rupees. As farmers we have informed the officials, but no solution has been offered.”
K. A Premaratne, a cultivator, said, “since about four years, each time the bund breaks our cultivations get damaged. Our families get badly affected every rainy season.”
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