Farmers surprised by elephant reserve move
Farmers said they were taken by surprise by the gazette issued on April 9 establishing the Hambantota Managed Elephant Reserve despite having been in talks on human-elephant conflict amelioration with Irrigation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa.
Walawa Left Bank Joint Farmers’ Association President Mahinda Samarawickrema said the gazette issued by State Minister Wimalaweera Dissanayake stated the reserve covered an area of 23,746 hectares more than the 25,000ha declared in the original allocation.
Minister Rajapaska had assured farmers that he would discuss matters with them before the elephant reserve was declared, he claimed. “The Minister promised a complete package of establishing an electric fence with lights, and a road around the reserve, and establishing dedicated bee, milk and watermelon farming villages,” Mr. Samarawickrema said.
“Milk farmers should have grasslands for their cows, and these areas should be clearly marked in the map issued with the gazette,” the farmers’ leader said.
Farmers needed assurance followed by concrete action on the management of wild elephants within an agreed time frame. Otherwise, the farmers’ satyagraha campaign in Walsapugala, Hambantota, launched on January 18, would continue.
Mr. Samarawickrema said he found it suspicious that the gazette had been issued with an outdated map showing the demarcated area of the proposed elephant reserve. “This is an old map. It doesn’t show the expressways to Hambantota Harbour or to Mattala Airport, nor does it depict the number of reservoirs where animals quench their thirst,” he said.
Farmers object to the previously undisclosed reservation of some 1,700ha, allegedly for development, without any purpose mentioned for the development. “Another 2,600 acres had been given to some foundation,” the farmers’ leader charged. “We were not informed as to from where and for what purpose these lands are going to be acquired.”
He said there were two largescale solar electricity farms and quarries inside the reservation that were not depicted. “These things should be clearly shown on the map, ”
Mr. Samarawickrema said.
The farmers engaged in the satyagraha are demanding: the gazetting of the Hambantota Elephant Management Reserve; erection of an electric fence around the reserve; relocation of wild elephants who roam into villages; a stop to the exploitation by large-scale commercial cultivators of water sources used by traditional farmers; allocation of grasslands for grazing of milk cows; a stop to claimed extensive politically-backed land-grabbing in Hambantota.
“We are fighting for these demands but no politician or government official informed us about the gazette coming out,” Mr. Saramawickrema said. “We only came to know about it through the media.”
Out of 21 grama niladhari divisions in the Sooriyawewa Divisional Secretariat area, 17 are affected by wild elephants while Ambalantota, Hambantota and Sevanagala and Lunugamvehera, Thanamalvila Divisional Secretariat areas and Hambantota Municipal Council area constantly experience elephant attacks.
Mr. Saramawickrema claimed that recently a large but unspecified amount of land had been illegally acquired in or close to the reserve by parties backed by politicians. Blocks of 40 acres and 50 acres had acquired by companies.
“How the district and divi
sional secretaries helped them to illegally acquire those lands within the reserve should be investigated,” he alleged, adding that both government and opposition were responsible for illegal land-grabbing inside the management reserve.
Mr. Samarawickrema said the initial allocation of forest land
for the proposed elephant management reserve was 25,000ha. This move, in 2011, followed large-scale clearing of forests around Hambantota area in 2005 that caused a rise in human-elephant conflict and led to the formulation of a national policy on conservation of wild elephants in 2006.