‘GotaGoGama’ A land that demands justice
The Galle Face Green has evolved from a mere protest site to a land that demands justice. This is evident with the various tents and their titles that dominate the space at ‘GotaGoGama’. From families of disappeared persons to students, doctors, artistes and in fact people from all professions have now made it a point to gather at the Galle Face Green and voice for a common cause. While some continue their protests against the corrupt regime, others visit the venue as and when possible to demand justice for injustices faced by them during the incumbent regime and previous regimes. Over the past few days, the Daily Mirror spoke to several such groups and individuals who arrived at the Galle Face Green demanding justice. Their stories are as follows ;
Even though the Yala season, one of the main paddy harvesting seasons is about to begin, paddy farmers are contemplating whether to continue with their harvests or abandon their paddy lands and look for alternative modes of income.
D. A. Wijeratne, Sanath Nandasiri Bandara and K. P. Karunaratne representing the Sansungama Farmer Association, one of 22 farmer associations under the Minneriya-Kaudulla irrigation network arrived at the Galle Face Green during the early hours of April 25. With a bundle of paddy, a sickle and three boards with slogans demanding justice for an errant decision, the trio educated onlookers at the protest site on the damage done to a much revered profession they thought they could depend on for their entire lifetime.
“We haven’t seen fertilisers or pesticides,” opined Bandara.“A kilo of fertiliser costs around Rs. 35,000. In case of pesticides, it costs over Rs. 20,000 per litre. Today a can of diesel costs around Rs. 8000 and with that we can plough around one acre. Therefore we need more than Rs. 100,000 to plough one acre. We can reap around 30 bundles of paddy from one acre. We have to allocate around Rs. 100,000 for allowances. The hire for the ploughing machine costs around Rs. 15,000. The minimum labour cost per person is Rs. 2500. Therefore we are left with around Rs. 20,000 - 30,000 after waiting for six months. We have absolutely no profit. Now the president admits that he made a mistake with the organic fertiliser policy. But on numerous occasions we tried to convince him to revoke the decision. A pack of urea costs around Rs.40,000 but back then it was only Rs. 1500.”
Wijeratne said that even though they have released water from the Minneriya reservoir the farmers in the area have demanded for fertiliser at the season meeting.“They said that they don’t need water if they don’t have fertilisers. Now these meetings are presided by Army Officers. Already there are compost fertilisers filled at paddy storage facilities. We have been engaged in paddy farming for over 30 years. Nobody has to teach us how to use organic fertilisers.”
“It’s difficult to harvest paddy from organic fertilisers,” opined Karunaratne. “Organic fertiliser would have suited previous paddy variants. But now we have hybrid variants and they need nitrogen for their growth. Fertiliser available in the black market costs around Rs. 40,000. They even told us that they would give us fertiliser free-of-charge or at subsidised rates. We haven’t requested fertiliser for free. Ministers take decisions while in AC rooms. We don’t even get a minimum wage. A few people are holding the monopoly of the paddy business and their profits don’t get shared among us.”
