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Uma Oya project cancellation: Worst affected yet to receive compensation
Officers involved in paying compensation to families and individuals adversely affected by the Uma Oya project are blaming each other for the discrepancies that arose in beneficiary lists. Last Monday a heated situation arose at the ceremony organised to pay compensation to the first batch of recipients as residents of the area who were present at the function claimed that the list did not include the worst affected.
Residents of Weheragalatenna, Makulalla, Leeloya and Liyanagawela, are some of the worst affected of the Uma Oya project with some of them being forced to abandon their houses. However names of some of these individuals had not been included in the list. “There was a list with 66 names of recipients supposed to get compensation that day, but only one person whose house was destroyed was in that list. All others were those who had small cracks in their houses. Fourteen others who had been forced to abandon their houses were not in the list,” said H. A Bodhipala of the Collective of People affected by the Umaoya Project.
When asked how some of the top officials who had come from the Ministry were unable to explain how the list was prepared, he replied, “Some of those beneficiaries had very negligible damages, and some of them even had water in their wells. When there were so many who had been severely affected we objected to the officials paying compensation to those who have been least affected first,” Bodhipala claimed adding that they too, however minute the damage suffered, should also receive compensation, but priority should be given to those who have been affected most.”
The list didn’t have the names of any of the people who had been forced to evacuate from Liyangahawela area either. In this area about 20 houses have suffered serious damage, with five of the houses being completely destroyed due to severe cracks that have appeared on the ground. However these households have not been included in the compensation list that was issued by the ministry this week, claims Ven. Liyangahawela Ananda Thera of Liyangahawela Sobitharamaya.
The Thera complained that no proper assessment was done before preparing the list saying that the others who came from the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau didn’t even have any equipment when they pointed to an area and said that the ground may get cracked in the future. The Thera claims that the officers paid no attention to an area of about 10 acres which already had serious cracks on the ground causing damage to about 20 houses.
“The cracks appeared on December 26. The crack line ran across six houses, completely destroying them. 19 houses were damaged heavily. The Divisional Secretary visited us and told the residents of those houses to move out of the houses immediately, so now they live with relatives or on rent,” Ven. Ananda Thera explained.
The list doesn’t have all those affected, claims Samantha Vidyarathna, a JVP provincial councillor, who has been advocating for justice for the adversely affected in the project, said. He too claims that no proper assessment has been done, although the authorities started paying compensation already.
“They took the information and were planning to pay some thing. The list has been prepared by the Mahaweli Ministry. But the issue was, when we looked at the list there were people who did not suffer any damage to their houses too”, he explained adding that there seems to be no proper coordination on the issue.
However Bandarawela Divisional Secretary Nihal Guneratne stated that they had no decision making power in who was to be paid compensation. According to him, all that was required was the Grama Niladhari to certify the houses sustained damages, as only a local officer is authorised to issue that certification according to current regulations.
“None of our officers or Grama Niladharis is involved in the preparation of the list. The list came from the ministry”, he said. According to Mahaweli Ministry Secretary, Nihal Rupasinghe, the ministry was only trying to expedite the payment of compensation. He claims that this was not the final list and it was not prepared on any priority basis.
“As the Government valuation was taking time, I got the CECB involved and did the valuations and organised to pay the compensation as soon as possible,” he said.After discussing with the affected people of the area, the ministry has agreed to first complete all assessments and valuations in a month’s time and arrange for the compensation to be made all at once, Mr. Rupasinghe said.