Farmers to go to HRCSL today over water issue in Hambantota

7 August 2023 09:22 am Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 3 Bookmark

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The All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation together with other farmers have planned to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) today as thousands of farmers are faced with a crisis due to the non-release of water from the Samanala Wewa reservoir for paddy cultivation.

National Organizer of the All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation Namal Karunaratne told the Daily Mirror that 65,000 acres of paddy lands cultivated under the Udawalawe reservoir are at risk of being completely destroyed due to the lack of water.

He said the water level in the Udawalawe reservoir had receded to 2 % and that if the water in the Samanala Wewa reservoir was released to irrigate the paddy lands, there is still a chance to rescue them.

“The government is not releasing water from the Samanala Wewa reservoir claiming they need to use it for hydropower generation. Hydro power generation has gone down to 10 MW by now in the Samanala Wewa reservoir and it will be zero soon. Then, there will be no hydropower generation and paddy lands will also be completely destroyed,” he said.

Karunaratne said farmers had cultivated paddy based on the assurance given by the government to release water and said that their human rights had been violated due to non-release of water as promised.

He said they were planning to file a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court shortly against the relevant authorities for their failure to release water for paddy cultivation and as the first step they would complain to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka today.(Ajith Siriwardana)

Comments - 3

Nimal Monday, 07 August 2023 09:47 AM

What a sordid state of affairs with a wretched government turning a blind eye to the plight of the poor farmers? The minister of agriculture requested the farmers to cultivate as much land as possible to avert a food shortage, and the farmers obliged. Now there is a very severe and critical shortage of water for these farms under the Walawe Ganga scheme. Water is available at Samanala Wewa, though in limited quantities. However, even that is not being given explaining that it is needed for power generation, even though the amount of power that could be generated is minimal. Unless action is taken speedily to release the water, crops grown in 65,000 acres would perish, there would be power cuts anyway and the reservoirs at Samanala Wewa and Uda Walawe will dry up. What a stupid cabinet of ministers do we have?

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Ram Monday, 07 August 2023 11:34 AM

Is the issue is in Hambantota go to Namal baby and he will fix it

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Tissa Fernando Tuesday, 08 August 2023 09:46 AM

Lack of strategic plan to have continously supply of water. They only know the issue when the water levels reach 2% is it not possible to release water once it is used for hydropower generation? . Also , we should think of sea water desalination in order to ensure that seasonal draughts do not impact the water supply. All these require an integrated strategic plan. We only have strategic plans for the benefits of other countries, super elites and politicians. As long as their pockets get filled , every thing is good for them.

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