Woes and wishes of a little hamlet
KARUWALAGASWEWA: Not many would have even heard of this hamlet situated between Puttalam and Anuradhapura. It has a Pradeshiya Sabha catering to 19,214 voters, largely farmer-peasants and their families.
The demands of the villagers are simple. “Give us water and we will give you food”, says Karuwalagaswewa Jayaratna Wickramaarachchi, a farmer. He is registered to vote within the PS and to return 18 members to the local council.
The recent drought has been compounded by the inefficiency of the Agriculture Ministry to give them the fertilizer when they were ready to plough the fields and needed it most. The deadly mix of nature’s wrath and officialdom’s bungling has hit them where it hurts most – their stomachs.
Ironically, the familiar wayside stalls that would normally sell produce from their home gardens to passing motorists now have imported apples and oranges for sale. Very few stop for that. Even in the main towns in the North Central Province, once paddy growing areas imported rice is polished at the mills, blended and packed into bags to meet the shortfall of local rice.
Unsuspecting consumers believe the packed rice bags carrying popular local trade marks contain produce from their area – it is not the case. Recently, an unscrupulous trader was brought to court for using a dye to turn rice into red kakula. He got away with a minor fine as the law stipulates.
K.J. Wickramaarachchi says his folk haven’t benefitted from the new Government. Earlier, they received subsi- dized fertilizer. That was changed, he says and now they have begun giving us coupons but we have to stand in a queue to get our fertilizer – rationed to two bags per cultivator.
And what about the Central Bank bond issue, we ask him. “What bond issue," he asks in return. Presidents, Prime Ministers, Pradeshiya Sabha members mean little to him. His vote is with whomsoever can give him water and fertilizer – on time.