{"id":98416,"date":"2020-01-29T16:36:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T23:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98416"},"modified":"2020-01-29T16:36:16","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T23:36:16","slug":"the-tragedy-of-the-hadabima-central-hill-country-and-the-hadabima-authority-of-sri-lanka-the-protection-of-which-should-be-observed-as-a-religion-in-this-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/29\/the-tragedy-of-the-hadabima-central-hill-country-and-the-hadabima-authority-of-sri-lanka-the-protection-of-which-should-be-observed-as-a-religion-in-this-country\/","title":{"rendered":"The tragedy of the HADABIMA (Central Hill Country) and The Hadabima Authority of Sri Lanka the protection of which should be observed as a \u201cRELIGION\u201d in this country."},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sudath Gunasekara\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

23.1.2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hadabima\nAuthority of Sri Lanka (Haritha Danav Bim Sanvardhana Madyama Adhikariya) was\nfounded by me in 1991 to implement a major national development Project within\nthe three badly neglected Provinces of Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa, covering\nthe entire three Provinces, as an extension of the former NADSA concept started\nin 1978 to address three important objectives namely, a) Watershed management,\nb) Agricultural Diversification and c) Settlement Development, that was started\nto develop the area between 300-900 ft. MS of the hill country of this Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HADABIMA\nDevelopment concept was first conceived by me in late 1986s when I was appointed\nto preside over the last rituals of NADSA, which was to be closed down by end\nof 1986. It was proposed by me in 1991, with a view to replicate the NADSA\n(National Agricultural Development and settlement Authority) experience as a pilot\nProject to address the above objectives. I conceived it  within a broader national perspective to\naddress, the alarming   deforestation,\nsoil erosion, land degradation and acute landlessness among the Kandyan\npeasants in the entire Central Hill Country and its fringe land around it focusing\non  four important objectives namely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a) Watershed conservation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b) Settlement\nDevelopment <\/p>\n\n\n\n

c) Agricultural\nDiversification <\/p>\n\n\n\n

d) Addressing\nthe Indian Estate Tamil labour problem with a lasting socio-ethnic integration\nthrough a mixed settlement programme under the provisions of the\nNehru\/Kotalawala Agreement of 1954<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Origin of the HADABIMA Concept <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I named this Project as the HADABIMA Authority\non three grounds I perceived. Firstly its physiography that resembles a heart\nflanked by two lungs m on eithersides, as shown in the diagram given below.\nSecond its geographical location right at the centre of the Island and third,\nits functional correlation between that of a blood circulatory system.  My perception was inspired by my familiarity\nwith its peculiar physiography and its relationship to the general lay out of\nthe Islands landscape and the peculiar radial drainage pattern that has a\ncommanding grip over the entire Island and its critical role in the\nsustainability of the entire life system in the country. My baccalaureate\ntraining in Geography at the University helped me to first visualize the\nanalogy between the broad physiography of the central hill country with its two\noutliers, the Knuckles ranges on the North East and Rakwana Hills on the South\nWest one day as I turned the physiographic map of the central hill country 15\ndegrees clock vice. Actually one day this happened by accident. After that I\nsuperimposed a drawing of the blood circulatory system to find a jig saw fit\nbetween the two that enabled me to draw a close analogy between the overall morphology\nof the central hill country to that of a heart flanked by two lungs on either\nsides. Thereafter I visualized the Islands river system as the arteries that perform\nthe function of blood circulation in a living organism. In this case I\nvisualize the river system as the arteries that keep the hydrological cycle\ngoing as I have pointed out in my original concept paper on this subject that\nwas published in the Island paper and Asian Tribune (29th<\/sup> Oct 2006)\nand Lankaweb Dec. 2. 2017, with full details. As I have sated there, in closer\nexamination \u201djust as much as the beat of the heart decides the fate of a man,\nsimilarly, the physical stability (beat) of the central hill country decides\nthe fate of the entire life system and the civilization of this country for the\nfollowing reasons. Therefore, the crying need \nto protect the Sri Lanka\u2019s Heartland at any cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All 103 rivers\nof the Island that provide water to sustain the entire life system on this lands,\nagriculture, industry and hydro power and human civilization have their sources\non these hills, supported by the forest cover that protects their physical\nstability. If the forests are not there, there want be any rain and the rivers\nwill cease to flow. If the rivers go dry at their sources they will go dry in\ntheir entirety and the whole country will end up as an uninhabitable sterile\ndesert. As much as the man dies when the heart stops, similarly on the day the\nphysical stability of the central hills is gone the entire life system of the\nisland will disappear from its surface. It is in this context I argued for the crying\nneed to protect the central hill country like the heart of our nation as this\nis the only watershed that provides water for the whole Island. This is a\nunique situation in the whole world. Therefore the need to protect it as the\nnation\u2019s heart, you will agree, is a matter between death and survival for this\nnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It is with this broad national perspective I\ncalled for the protection of the land above 5000 ft MSL as a strictly declared\nreserved and protected forest and limit all human settlement strictly to land\nbelow 3500 ft as it was done in the ancient times. If you look at Kotmale,\nWelimanda and Mandaramnuwara settlements you will see the wisdom of our ancient\nKings. They never allowed any settlement above this level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this backdrop, Just imagine the scale of the danger\nand the crime of Building 63,000 houses, as it is being done today, on this\nHEARTLAND of the nation on the fragile steep slopes going up to 7700 ft MSL haphazardly\nand settling an army of Indian Tamils who consider India as their motherland\nand have both their hearts and minds in India, with no love what so ever for\nthis country and are scheming to build up a Malayanadu on the HEARTLAND OF THE\nSINHALA NATION\u201d, right at the center of this country. The latest reported in\nthe press is the decision to hand over 300 acres to squatters in the\nPidurutalagala reserve<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0MAP 1 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 Source : Sudath Gunasekara  1991<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than the\nhistorical injustices caused thereby to the native people who lived here for\n2500 years and who sacrificed everything they had inherited from their glorious\npast within 500 years, from 1505-1948 to defend their Motherland in war\nagainst  three colonial invaders and the\nimpending devastative strategic, political, economic and social implications on\nthis Island nation that will follow due to this ongoing Internationally funded\nneo colonization\u201d programme headed by India and it was this primary concern\nfor a nation\u2019s survival which made me to think about this comprehensive\ndevelopment project way back in late 1980s, as a person who love this country\nand deeply concerned with the destiny of the Sinhala nation at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the man who\nresurrected a once dead and buried project (NAdA) between 1986-1992  that was rejected, discarded, blacklisted and\nmoney withdrawn in early 1980s by the World Bank and decided to close it down\nby bend of 1986 for political and administrative failures, I am deeply\nconcerned and agitated by the present sad plight it has fallen in to. After\nresurrecting it from its abysmal depths and scratches during a short\nperiod  of 3 years, I gave it a new lease\nof life, even before the golden period of this Project emerged between\n1989-1992 with WFP assistance. Lalith Atulathmudalai the then Minister of\nAgriculture on his first visit in Dec 1991 to this Project described it as the\nbest small farm project in Sri Lanka at that time, incidentally which he\ndescribed as the best example in the whole world where the poor is made\npoorer\u2019 just one month before that date. The WFP followed suit by naming it as\nthe best small farm project in Asia in 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having\nresurrected this dead Project from its grave by awakening a set of utterly\ndisappointed and dejected 35,000 farmers to a highly motivated group of farmers\nwith new hopes, I got 12.5 US$ million grant from the WFP and fed them three\nmeals a day for six years, (that is 2.5 billion meals) from 1991\u20141992, with the\nslogan Food for development\u201d. Coupled with a vigorous development plan I\nuplifted the standard of living of these men and women amidst immense political\nobstruction from the ruling UNP and got its area of authority expanded to cover\nthe entire CP, UVA  and the Sabaragamuva\nprovinces in 1992, in spite of the objections by the Minister Dharmadasa Banda.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the first man\nwho pointed out the crucial dependence of the Island\u2019s entire life system and\nits civilization on the physical stability of the Central Hill Country, as its\n\u2018GEOGRAPHICAL HEARTLAND\u2019, with the lessons learnt from large scale\ndeforestation done by the British, I am deeply grieved the way it had been\ndestroyed and vandalized by native politicians from 1992 to date for political\nexpediencies. They had no brain to understand the critical value of this\nProject for the survival of a nation and the need to protect it for the next\ngeneration. None of the Chairmen under both UNP and SLFP regimes during this\nperiod had the brain to understand the value of this Great Project and none has\ndone a penny worth thing to protect it. All of them are either defeated\npoliticians or political bats who change their party affiliations with every\nelection and creep in in to these positions just to collect the money they\nspend on candidates and rob these institutions. They all have only enjoyed the\nbenefits of office inherited from my perilous effort for six years. Beside\nmismanaging it and enjoying the benefits at public expense they have killed a\nhen laying golden eggs and also made it unmanageable and unrealistic by\nexpanding its activities to areas outside its legal operational area of the\nthree Provinces set by the Sri Lanka Hadabima Authority Act of 1991, which I\ngot passed in spite of Minister of Agriculture Dharmadasabanda objecting to it\nopenly. This illegal expansion they did by Gazette notification No. 2026\/45\npublished on 07th<\/sup> July 2017 firstly, to cover up their gross financial\nmisappropriations done for 25 years since 1992 to 2017, running about all over\nthe country like Hambantota in the extreme South and Vavuniya in the North,\noutside its legal area of operation and secondly, to justify new recruits\nloaded to the cadre for political favouritism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion\nthe importance of the protection of the Heartland should be inculcated to every\nman and woman starting from the President of the Republic to every school going\nchild in this country if we want to preserve this beautiful land for posterity.\nIn that context the message of the value of this Project and its objectives\nshould be passed down to every man, woman and child. I strongly believe the\nprotection of the Hill Country, the geographical HEARTLAND of the nation, is\nthe golden key to the future survival and prosperity of this Island nation. It\nshould be taught to everybody to be observed as a RELIGION\u201d, in this country, I\nthink. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you will\nagree, more trees on the Hill country means more rain, more water, less erosion\nand less land degradation and better soil, better physical stability with their\nanchoring root systems, more waterfalls, more hydroelectricity, more industries\nand more agriculture, more bio diversity, more flowers and more fruits with\nmore birds and song, more people and more prosperity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A brief history of the NADSA (now called HADABIMA\nproject (for the benefit of my readers).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In the wake of the newly emerged worldwide\ndevelopment euphoria in the early 1970s based on environmental protection, land\nreforms and equitable distribution of wealth and to achieve social justice\nadvocated by people like Gunnar Myrdal in his classic Asian Drama and the  thought provoking concept of appropriate\ntechnology (enunciated by Schumacher) as an alternative for modern technology\nto face the challenges of sustainable development and the need for increased\nproduction to avoid hunger and the dangers of blanket application of Western\ntechnology to the so-called Third World countries, the attention of the then\nGovernment (1970-1977) was drawn to the \nfollowing problems at Home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Serious soil\nerosion and land degradation in the hill Country and silting of the Islands\nrivers in the lowlands and recurrent floods in downstream areas due to large\nscale deforestation started by the British in 1830s and still continuing\nun-arrested due to poor land management and inappropriate cultivation practices\nfollowed by an utterly ineffective and inefficient plantation sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 The problem of\nserious landlessness and poverty and social injustice, particularly in the\nKandayn provinces due to loss of their ancestral land to the British and non-\nimplementation of the recommendations of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission of\n1951 and lack of income generating opportunities among the peasant population\nin the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 The crying\nneed to diversify the plantation sector with a package of diversified crops\nlike pepper, Cloves and Coffee combined with other native home garden crops\nlike coconut, Arica, vegetable and fruits and animal husbandry to reduce\ndependency on few mono crops like Tea and Rubber and also to avoid the vagaries\nof recurrent price fluctuation in the world market to face balance of payment\nproblems<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 The need to\nrevisit the Kandyan Forest Garden concept that is as good as the natural forest\nfor environmental protection and to control soil erosion (with an annual  soil loss rate of 0.1mt\/ha\/year) with a modified\nmixed farm version to generate more income than from a traditional Kandyan\nForest Gardens. (Recent studies by Guido Kuchelmeister (1987) and Mahaweli\nAuthority of Sri Lanka (1995) have found the Kandyan Forest Garden model to be\nthe best ecosystem for this type of hilly terrain as it possess both ecological\nand environmental characteristics that are ideal for such situations in a\ntropical country- only second to the natural forests) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subsequently on\na request by the Government World Bank carried out a comprehensive study on all\nthese aspects and finally they produced 97 excellent research documents that\nremains a gold mine guideline for any development in this region of the country\nfor income generations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Phase<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the\nfindings of these studies the next Government that came to power in 1977 set up\nthe National Agricultural Diversification and Settlement Development Authority\n(NADSA) in August 1978 to implement a pilot Project in few selected river\nbasins in the Kandy (Gampola and Nawalapitiya) and Kegalla (Mawanella and\nYatiyantota) Districts to be replicated in other hill country areas with\nsimilar problems after the trial period. These Projects were confined to the\nmid country (300-900m MSL).The new Government started with a bang contributing\n2.5m US$ as GOSL component and the World Bank providing 4.5m US$. The Minister\nof Agriculture E L Senanayaka vested few LRC marginal and neglected Tea and\nRubber lands from the two Districts and established the NADSA in August 1978\nand as usual packed it with their political stooges who knew nothing next to\nthe objectives of the Project. They had no proper plan of development either.\nThey also had no vision or a mission on the implementation of this Project. The\nMinister toured the area by helicopter with WB Chairman. Kapila Wimaladharma\nPathirana (SLAS) the General Manager was the only professional attached to this\nProject. But before long the Minister chased him out as he had refused to carry\nout some of the Ministers mad orders and put one of his supporters in that\nplace from Kandy kachcheri, a Surveyor by the name Wikramasuriya.  In no time the Word Bank got disgusted with\nmismanagement and poor Project performance and decided to withdraw from the\nProject with the 4.5 Million Grant. They discarded and blacklisted it as a\nfailed Project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subsequently on\na Report by Ranjan Wijeratna, who knew only about Tea planting, the then\nSecretary to the Ministry of Agriculture the government decided to close down\nthe project. Thus conceptually one of the best development projects ever\nconceived in the post Independent era in this country, finally the Government\ndecided to close it down by end of 1986, on his report. Thereafter productive\nestates and good Bungalows were appropriated by politicians and sometimes even\nby the officials. For example Kelli Estate with its Bungalow was given to\nDeputy Minister Agriculture Imbulana. Part of Ovel Estate and its manager\u2019s\nbungalow in Gampola to a relation of Gamini Disanayaka and Wariyagala Bungalow\nwith few acres of Tea was appropriated by the successor to Kapila as Director\nand part of the same state was given to the Administrative Officer of NADSA.\nMeanwhile all the Tea factories were given for a song to one Karunaratna from\nColombo a close friend of JR. who dismantled them and made a fortune of\nit.  Immediately after I took over the Project,\nI stopped all such nefarious activities and the left out assets were used for\ndevelopment within the Project<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second phase that opened a new lease of life to\nthe NADSA Project (later named by me as HADABIMA Project) under my\nadministration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 1st\n1986 I took over a Project that was to be closed down by end of the year. In\nfact Minister Gamani Jayasuriya sent me there to preside over the last rituals\nof NADSA, until he takes me as his Additional Secretary on Janu.1. 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This appointment\ncame at a time when I was getting ready to leave public service in disgust, to\ntake up a Commonwealth assignment as an Expert in Handicrafts in Sierralyon, as\nmy appointment as Government Matale and Kandy had been blocked thrice and even\nas the Registrar of Peradeniya University in spite of the fact that I had come\nfirst at the Interview. On the day I met Minister Gamani Jayasuriyain this\nbackdrop in the company of Mahanaayaka Thero of Asgiriya, after going through\nmy Bio-data he said he will take me immediately as his Additional Secretary and\nmoreover there is no point in going to NADSA as it will be closed down by the\nend of the year. Had I accepted his offer I could have been the Secretary Ministry\nof Agriculture in no time since by that time I had completed more than six\nyears in Class1 and 21 years in SLAS. It also would have been a very big\npromotion in my carrier. But since I opted to be in Kandy for personal reasons\ntill end of year he put me on this job on condition that I will come to the\nMinistry of Agriculture as his Additional Secretary in Jan 1987. Objections by\nthe Chief Minister for my appointment CP were thwarted and I assumed duties as\nits Director on April 2nd 1986.              \n                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sat down and first\nstudied the project reports. The first I read among them in detail was a\ncomprehensive evaluation report of the Project made by Kapila the first\nDirector that gave me a bird\u2019s eye view of the Project. This was followed by\nfew visits to the field and trying to understand the ground situation by\nmeeting the people and seeing the actual situation and trying to understand the\nactual problems faced by the farmers. I met the Minister on Monday the next and\ntold him how I have understood the project by going through the reports and\nseeing things on the ground coupled with my experience in District\nAdministration and my knowledge on the landscape as a student of Geography. I\ntold him that, in my opinion, NADSA is one of the best development concepts, if\nnot the best, as I see, that had ever been proposed in the post Independent era\nin this country by any Government and therefore it should never be closed down\nas long as this country exists on earth\u201d he looked at me sharply and said.\n\u201dSudath all the other fellows say just the opposite of what you say, either all\nof them are mad or you are mad.\u2019 He posed for a while and continued but having\nlistened to you, I too think there is lot of truth in what you say\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From next day I\nstarted my mission by my country and the neglected Kandyan peasants with full\ndrive, determination and commitment to make this the best small farm\ndevelopment Project in this country by the end of the year and to replicate it\nto all areas with identical problems within three years as a model Agricultural\nsettlement Development Programme in South East Asia at least if not the whole\nworld. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there were\nserious limitations to achieving my goals such as <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Lack of adequate\nstaff both in the Office as well as in the field<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Lack of\nsufficient funds, materials and equipment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 An utterly\ndepressed and demotivated set of settlers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 And above all\nobstructions from the local politicians on personal grounds<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example the\noffice staff was limited to an Administrative officer, an Accountant (both\nretired from public service), few clerks and 2 peons, three drivers and two\nlabourers. In the field there were about 6 Field officers to look after 15\nsettlements in two Districts. The rest had been discontinued pending the\nclosure of the project in December 1986. The vehicle flight consisted of 1\nhacked Pajero jeep. 3 rackety small Daihatsu Jeeps, one Box model Mitsubishi\nLancer old car, 2 old Lorries, all that escaped the hammer.  All development activities had come to a\nstandstill by that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following\nMonday I had a staff meeting of all officers and briefed them about the\nsituation and my proposed future plans in the backdrop of my understanding and what\nthe Minister indicated to me for my proposal to resurrect the Project and\nsought their support for my future plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step\nin this process was to motivate the staff and the settlers with new hopes and\nthen to find sufficient funds to continue. My first approach was the Treasury.\nBut point blank it said no as the Government has already taken a decision to\nclose down the Project by year end. The next major problem was to bring back\nthose settlers who had left the farm plots and look for a device to keep the\nsettlers on the farm lots. With my experience in problems of rural development\nas a DRO, I met the WFP Country Director Mr Hersy in Colombo with a modest\nProject proposal for 2.5 million US $ request. But he said the WFP will never\nagree to reopen this as this project was rejected as a failed project due to\nmismanagement and moreover grant money with drawn and it was blacklisted. I\ninsisted saying that I will give a guarantee that I can resurrect the project\nsince it is one of the best development concepts ever conceived in this country\nsince Independence. He again said WFP will never agree to come back. However as\nI insisted he finally agreed to take my proposal to Rome the following week\nwhen he goes there saying just to try your luck\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To my surprise\non his return he rang me up to congratulate me saying that Rome has agreed to\nreopen the Project under new management as they were highly convinced on my\nreasoning and he wanted me to make it 5 Million as he as the country Director\ncan recommend up to 5 Million US $. In few seconds he rang me up again and said\n\u2018Don\u2019t worry Mr Gunasekara, I myself will adjust the figures and as from today\nonwards I will treat it as one of my own Projects. That is the way I was able\nto convince the WFP Country Director at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In two months\u2019\ntime came a Project appraisal mission to appraise it along with another proposal\nfor Kotmale requested by Minister Gamini Disanayaka. I did my homework got an\nevaluative study done by Prof J.M. Gunadasa of the Peradeniya University\nsupporting my arguments on the economic viability in the Project proposal. I\nsubmitted it to the appraisal team. I also got a 35 minute video film done on\nthe importance of the objectives of this Project and its future potentials in\nnation building by Dharmasena Pathiraja \ncalled\u2019 Haritha Danavva\u201d (Green Habitat) to be shown to them. (This\nfilm was later awarded a merit certificate at the International Film festival\nheld that year in  Praha-Checholovakia on\nEnvironment). By the time the appraisal team arrived I had got the settlers to\nclean up their farms and roads on Shramadana basis and also got them to start\non a vigorous programme of Development activities including planting, putting\nup stone hedges for soil conservation and even giving a new outlook to their\ntemporary huts. Meanwhile I also provided pipe born water services where ever\npossible. For all these activities I gave them only 50% of the cost including\nmaterial likes s-lon pipes. In order to get this work done. I organized the\nsettlers in to groups of 25 families called Pasvisi Sabaha\u2019 where they took\nall decisions and the officials playing the role of facilitators only using the\nparticipatory management technique. (Incidentally one person did a study on the\nsuccess story of this first Highland Farmer Organization in Sri Lanka and got a\nPhD from a USA University).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 When the Appraisal team came, each member was\ngiven a docket with reading material along with a copy of the Evaluative Study\nfollowed by screening the video film Haritha Dannvva. By this time I also got\nthe Board of Directors reconstituted with the Directors of the Departments of Agriculture,\nMinor Export Crops and the two Government Agents of Kandy and Kegalla with\nsenior representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Treasury. I\nalso had an advisory body formed with eminent men like Ray Wijewardhana and Dr\nWaidyanatha of the University Peradeniya who were experts on appropriate\ntechnology and planting and Kapila the first General Manager and Director and\nalso Prof J.M Gunadasa who compiled the Evaluative study. I also got them to\nparticipate in field visits as facilitators to the Appraisal team. I got the\nfarmers to welcome the visitors with traditional Bulath hurulu and in some\nplaces even by putting up traditional pandoles with local materials which they\nprocured from their own farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of\nthe three day field visit I hosted the Appraisal Team for lunch at the Kegalla\nRest House. While thanking them for visiting to appraise my Project I told them\nthat it is a Herculean task to take this Project uphill. I also told them that\nwhen I think of the constrains and difficulties of taking it uphill it reminds\nme the famous Dover mail story that comes in Tales of Two Cities of Charles\nDickens. I also told them that there were two horses to pull the Dover mail\nwhere as there is only one little horse here to pull the NADSA mail; the two\nhorses there had eight legs whereas this horse here has only two legs. The mud\non the Dover hill was only natural whereas here it is not only natural but also\npolitical, administrative, financial and even psychological in which I am\nalready buried to the neck. However, I told them, I am determined to forge\nahead uphill nonstop until I reach the top even if I don\u2019t get an ounce of\nAmerican flour or a grain of rice or an ounce of Sugar, dhal or Dry fish from\nWfP. Team leader Arora got up and this is what he said in reply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Gunasekara\nthis is the fifth visit I made to this Project. What I have seen this time is\nsomething entirely different from all what I have seen in my All previous\nvisits. I do not know what magic you have done to make this change and the\nbrimming enthusiasm and hearty laughs seen on the faces of the settlers. You\nshould not have any doubts about your goal. You are already at the top of the\nNADSA hill and I declare on behalf of the whole team that last night we have\nunanimously decided to approve your Project Proposal and more over it is not 5\nmillion as you have requested but double that amount\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end\ninstead of 5 Million for five years they gave 12.million for six years after\ntheir second visit having seen my video film \u2018The Miracle Basket\u201d a short film\nmade by me showing what a Great Change\u2019 the food basket has brought about. At\nthe end of that year my project was hailed as the best Small farm Development\nProject in Asia funded by the WFP. By end of 1991 the assets of the project\nwent up by millions and the staff increased by hundreds as well as quality of\nservice they did to the people. The vehicle fleet rose up to about 50\nincluding, 6 tractors, a mini bus to transport settles for training in\ndifferent places  and 48 motor cycles for\nfield officers,.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally to\neverybody\u2019s surprise the request for WFP assistance for Kotmale made by\nMinister Gamini Disanayaka was rejected by the WFP.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phase three  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Encouraged by this success I moved on to the\nnext step of my Dream, that is expanding the Project to all the three Provinces\naround the hill country, Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa, under the New name Sri\nLanka Harita Danau Bim Sanwardhana Madyama Adikariya\u201d (Sri Lanka Hadabima\nAdikariya) from 1991 as they together form one physiographic unit and also\ncorrespond with the area covered by the Kandyan Peasantry Commission Report of\n1951. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I visualized\nthis expansion with a holistic perspective of development within a broader\ngeographical area covering the entire CP, UVA and the Sabargamuwa Provinces,\ncovering about 2\/3 the area of this Island, with the dual objectives of,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, to\nprotect the Central Hill Country, the nation\u2019s mother watershed which I named\nas the The Geographical Heartland of Sri Lanka\u201d or   Bhuugoliya HADABIMA\u201d of Sinhale to save the\nentire life system in this country from its extinction and <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, to\nretain this land as the LAND of the SINHALA NATION as long as the sun and moon\nshall last in this universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile\nPresident Premadasa summoned me for a meeting at the Presidential Secretariat\nalong with the Minister, Deputy and the chairman. At that meeting he asked me 3\nquestions. A) The present position of the Project b) What I propose to do next\nand c) The assistance we need to implement the programme. After listening to me\nhe asked me Why are these Gampola side people so angry with you,\u201d probably\nreferring to the continual objections by the CM Dissanayaka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thereafter he\nexplained the importance of this project to the committee as I had outlined in\nmy concept paper I had given to him earlier on The geographical heartland of\nthe country\u201d where he quoted my statement that as much as the beat of the\nheart decides the fate of the man similarly the physical stability of the\ncentral hill Country decides the entire life system and the civilization in the\nentire Island\u201d.  And finally he said\ngentlemen, as Sudath says this is a very good Project and that is why I have\ndecided to support it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was\nfollowed by another meeting in the Ministry of Agriculture at Peradeniya\npresided over by him and attended by the Prime Minister, Minister of\nAgriculture, Governors of the three Provinces and all the MPP and the GA A of\nthe new Project area. At that meeting after my briefing where I requested or 40\nmillion for the expansion programme he after consulting Paskaralingam who was\nalso present gave me the 40 million over the counter, after I told him that I\nam planning to settle 250 000 families under the proposed new Project area at\ncompletion in all three Provinces covered by the Kandyan Peasantry Commission.\nHe then said \u2018Sudath I have given you all what you asked for. Now I want you to\nstart a very vigorous publicity programme<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This rang up the\nalarming bells for the politicians of the area as the politicians of the ruling\nUNP.They  immediately started their war\nagainst me perhaps fearing that I would be a political threat to them as they\nalways thought I was a SLFP man. The Chief Minister Dissanayaka CP rekindled\nhis torch as he had been gunning at me from the day I was appointed, as\nDirector of this Project and soon the doom phase of the Project began to raise\nits ugly head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I was taken by surprise when I found that I\nhad been transferred to the pool with immediate effect within a week after the\nfamous Peradeniya meeting where the President gave me 40 million over the counter\nfor the expansion I proposed without a blink. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This decision of Premadasa not only to put an end to\nthe golden period of the HADABIMA Project but it also drew the curtain over the\nbeginning of the dawn of a new era of physical stability, watershed management\nfor the HAERTLAND and a new chapter in socio-economic prosperity, meaningful\nsocial integration and human contention and political stability for the whole\ncountry.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(But having realized perhaps his mistake, within a\nmonth President Premadasa appointed me as the State Secretary to the Ministry\nof Health after I got him convinced of the dangers of a proposal before the\nCabinet for the amalgamation of the Divisional Secretariats and Pradesiyasabha,\nas the President of the SLAS held at the BMCH in December 1992.  On behalf of the general membership of the\nSLAS I wanted the President to withdraw a) the Cabinet paper to be taken up\nnext day proposing to amalgamate the DSS and DCC, to appoint Divisional GAA as\nSecretaries to the Pradesiya Sabha Chairmen and also to appoint All Island\nClass 1 Officers as Divisional GAA by his Government.  Those SLAS Officers who were there would\nremember how profusely he thanked me for pointing out the dangers of the\nproposal and he agreed to withdraw that death warrant on the SLAS. I hope all\nwill agree with me that if not for that timely intervention by me there would\nhave been no SLAS thereafter in this country, thanks to Jolly Somasundaram the\narchitect of that Cabinet paper. That is a different story altogether.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To revert to the\noriginal subject of HADABIMA story I will now give you how politicians again\nkilled a golden hen that would have laid even Diamond EGGS for this nation and\ncreated a new chapter in scientific watershed management, water resource\ndevelopment, economic and socio cultural renaissance and finally, brought about\nlasting political stability to this Island nation by solving the canker that is\nThe Indian Estate Tamil Problem\u201d forever in this country, had my proposal been\ncarried out to its logical conclusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty years\nafter I left it, today sadly only the name HADABIMA I gave it is left. None of\nthe objectives of the original fathers of either the NADSA as envisaged in\nearly 1970s or that broad national vision I conceived and perceived in late\n1980s on the enormous potentialities of this important Project are active there\nnow. Just like most other Projects, It also has got reduced to another semi-Government\nInstitution that provides lucrative and remunerative political jobs to satisfy\nthose who pretend to have helped the ruling party to come to power. All this is\ndone at public expense with no contribution at all to national development.\nWhen are we going to save this country from this rut?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even after I\nleft in 1992 this Authority functioned under the Ministry of Agriculture up to\n2016  but sadly again it went back to the\npre-1986 situation and became a heaven for politicians their unscrupulous\nhenchmen who had no understanding of the basic objectives or the values  of this all important national project. They\nwere only concerned in making a fast bug and reaping the harvest of what I had\nplanted enjoying the benefits of their official positions doing nothing for the\ncountry or the people who pay their salaries. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was assigned\nto the Ministry of Regional Development from 18th March 2016. That enabled Minister\nFonseka\u2019s b\/in-law to function from Colombo as Chairman. Now it has been\nconverted to an all Island Project by the Gazette notification No. 2026\/45\npublished on 07th July 2017. This was done firstly, to cover up financial\nmisappropriation committed by its Chairmen, Board members and even officials in\ntravelling all over the island, outside its area of authority between 1992 and\n2017. Because as we know you can\u2019t spend public funds for any work or\ntravelling outside the area of its legitimate operation unless one has the\napproval of the Secretary of the Ministry concerned to travel or do any special\nbusiness outside the area of its legitimate authority. Doesn\u2019t this display the\nscale of corruption and abuse of authority by all those who have handled this\nProject ever since 1992? These haphazard changes clearly evince the inability\nto understand the basic objectives of the Project for which it was established\nin 1978 as NADSA. Political objectives getting precedence over development and\ncreating unproductive jobs for their men and providing more facilities like\nvehicles and enhanced travelling appear to have overtaken the development\nobjectives of the Project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 After it came under Minister Fonseka, he has\nappointed one of his relatives as the Chairman and got an Office opened up in\nColombo, as said before to enable him to function from there, thereby reducing\nthe Peradeniya office to a Sub-office. They also created a post of Vice\nChairman and allowed him to function from Hambantota as he happened to be a\nperson from that area, I am told, that is how they have abused political power\nand misappropriated public funds and ruined this Project over the past 28\nyears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gazette\nnotification No. 2026\/45 published on 07th<\/sup>   July\n2017 enabling its functions to cover the whole island has brutally killed its\noriginal objectives.  I have narrated\nthis sad story to the country in order to bring this to the notice of the\nPresident and the Prime Minister so that they will take suitable measures at\nleast now, before it is completely ruined by unscrupulous political appointees\nfor which the final responsibility will come on the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However I must\nmake it very clear here that I am not asking for a job by pointing out these\nblunders.  I am only requesting the President\nto rescind the 2017 gazette and confine its activities to the project area\ndefined by the 1991 gazette and appoint someone who can understand the ABCD of\nthis Project. In the process if the President or the Prime Minister want me to\ntake over HADABIMA as its Head as the founding father of this wonderful\nProject, I shall work WITHOUT a SALARY with full commitment, dedication and\ndetermination until I put it back on its wheels as I  had dreamt in late 1980s. Within 2 or 3 years\nthe most I shall make it the best development Project in this country by paving\nthe way to realize the following objectives within five years and make history\nin the annals of post independent era of this country in people centered\ndevelopment, for everyone to see as to how a public institution should be run\nunder Sinhala Buddhist ethos and perception for the benefit of the many and for\nthe happiness of the many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Get all the land above 5000 ft. declared as a\nstrictly prohibited National Forest Reserve, a Thahanchi kele a<\/em>s it was done by our ancient Kings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Get the\nHADABIMA (> 1000 ft. MSL) protected as the Nations Heart to guarantee that\nthe life system and Civilization in this country is not endangered and it will\nlast as the sun and moon shall rise over this land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Get 250 000\nself-sustained farmer families settled within the Project area on 2 \u00bd acre farm\nlots<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 Obtain WFP\nFood assistance for 6 years, under the motto, Food for Development\u201d to sustain\nthese farm families, (as I did from 1991-1992) until they are on their own feet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 Draw up a\nprogramme to cover the entire HADAMIMA with natural forest and Agro forests\n(Kandyan Forest gardens) to arrest soil erosion and land degradation endangering\nbiodiversity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 Once again\nrestore the Central Hill Country as the nation\u2019s biggest natural reservoir\u201d,\nand the best hideout in the country and make all the 103 rivers starting on\nthese hills perennial, increase water flow in all the rivers and minimize flood\nand silting in downstream areas and make at least the major rivers like Kelani (up\nto Yatiyantota rapids as it had been before 1815 and Mahaweli and Kalu ganga in\nancient times<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 Make Sri Lanka\nself-sufficient in Hydro Electricity, minimizing dependency on thermal power\nand if possible make it a Hydro Power exporting country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

8 Make Sri Lanka\na water exporting country in future as I have stated in my paper on Vision and\nMission on Water Management\u201d in Sri Lanka I have already sent to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9 Rectify all\nthe historical injustices done to over 600 000 Kandyan peasants by the British\nand all Governments since the so-called Independence in 1948<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10 End the all-\nimportant pestering Indian Tamil problem in the hill country by establishing\nSinhala-Tamil mixed settlement schemes below 3500 ft. MSL with the final goal\nof integrating all of them under the Nehru\/Kotalawala Agreement of 1954 with\nthe main stream, as full citizens of this country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Sudath Gunasekara\u00a0 23.1.2020. The Hadabima Authority of Sri Lanka (Haritha Danav Bim Sanvardhana Madyama Adhikariya) was founded by me in 1991 to implement a major national development Project within the three badly neglected Provinces of Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa, covering the entire three Provinces, as an extension of the former NADSA concept started in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sudath-gunasekara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}