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| Tuesday, 6 July 2004 |
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'Aren't we worth the forex we earn?' by Prasad Poornimal, Puttalam district correspondent
The sun bathed sandy beaches and the elegant surrounding our country has, are major attractions we could offer to tourists whose choice is Sri Lanka for their holiday. Of these the beaches in the South and the East are most fascinating and appealing to tourists. In the recent past there was unprecedented and increased visits of tourists to these beaches. As a result the hotels and tourists rests mushroomed bordering the beaches indiscriminately. The authorities concerned readily approved such investments as they were deemed to be foreign exchange earners. Fish provide protein to our staple meal. But the officials wielding authority failed to realise that our fishery resources which supplement a wholesome meal to our people with rice and curry were equally important as much as earning foreign currency.
Those who govern the destinies of our people would go to the extent of reclaiming even the ocean to build tourists resorts if there are bidders for such investments either local or foreign. But the end result would be very pathetic. The impact of this process on our fishing industry has been tremendous by now. Several examples of such influences were seen in the recent conflagration that erupted in the fishing hamlet of Arugambay in the coastal belt of Pothuvil, completely destroying 26 abodes of the fisher-folk. The victims of this devastation assert that the cause of the fire was not natural but a well planned conspiracy by a tourist agent whose acts deprived them of ancestral heritage including fishing gear, jewellery, house-hold goods and miscellaneous items and belongings worth over Rs. eight million.
Abubakar Sinnathamby, a 60 year old victim of the devastation told the Daily News that he was a fisherman for the past 40 years and now unable to carry on with his job due to fire that caused havoc and no relief coming from the authorities he made several appeals for assistance. "There was a very good gentleman of the Sri Lanka Army. He was very helpful to us. In fact he provided food for us for some days. " But we cannot expect him to provide us food all days and we have no means to cook our own food. We starve but our sordid story has no place even in the media which cover every bit whether useful or not. " That is the way of the world. We appeal to one and all to have a feeling for us living in suffering and help us in this hour of need", he said. Jenita Warnakulasuriya, Ulla, said Arugambay came out with the incident that put them in this miserable situation. She said that her feeling was that those in authority seem to have no concern or are unaware of their plight. With that in mind we have written to the authorities concerned but to no avail. "We have lost everything. From the coconut shell to the golden chain. What we wear is what we had at the time of disaster. We received lots of promises from politicians during election time but that is all. None of them come to see us", she lamented. Jude Nishantha, a 33 year fisherman said that for generations they have been in the fishing industry. The village was ours once. But no more and we have no place to claim our own now and have no place to live with our parents, relatives, children and friends as we used to do in the recent past. "We are threatened by those who have the means and power, when we try to put up shelters with the little resources we have. "They do not want us to put back our houses destroyed by fire. We want the government to intervene on our behalf. We hear there are a load of roofing sheets meant for distribution at the Divisional Secretariat at Potuvil. Why not give them to us to have a shelter over our heads. Are we not worth the foreign exchange, the country earns from tourism? Have they forgotten that our industry gives the nourishment necessary to our people? If we cannot go fishing because the authorities want to see tourism flourish in these beaches, time will come we may have to import fresh and dry fish from abroad", he said. Their story is heart rending. We have forgotten to think that they are a cross-section of people of our own. They are a part of our life-line. No doubt we must protect and improve tourism as an industry. But it should not be done at the expense of our natural resources. It is time that the Ministries of tourism and fisheries look into the plight of these people who live in misery for no fault of theirs but by mere social condition. |
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