Farmers to go to HRCSL over water issue in Hambantota

 By Ajith Siriwardana

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 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 recede to 2 % and that if 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 hydro power 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 hydro-power 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.