A road through the Veddah land

Sri Lanka’s indigenous community, popularly known as the veddahs are currently up in arms against the construction of a highway that cuts through a declared national park.

The veddahs, despite being Sri Lanka’s indigenous community have always had it tough, having to bargain for their rights and defend their lifestyle in a country that experiences swift socio-cultural changes and little appreciation for aboriginal lifestyles except to ogle at them on occasions.

The road construction is only one of the many thorny issues the veddah community has had to grapple with, ever since the declaration of the Maduru Oya National Park way back in 1983 as a component of the Accelerated Mahaweli Development Project. It is a demarcation of their habitat and a declaration of a nature reserve the community opposed at the very outset. It is only natural that they have to contend with multiple problems despite the passage of time.

According to the inhabitants of Dambana, there are already problems with the authorities over their habit of accessing the national park. They feel they have every legal right to do so, but the authorities object to their presence whilst carrying firearms.

"We are hunters. This was our home and still is. The area has been shrinking rapidly but look at the way in which the indigenous people of this country are treated," an indignant veddah told this writer while on a previous research project, commenting on the plight of the Maduru Oya veddah community.

Besides, the veddahs enter the park, despite their hunting grounds now being demarcated, to pay homage to their ancestors. It is a ritual of immense value to them.

But now the bone of contention is not the accessing of the nature reserve, the gathering of bees’ honey and herbs that are part of the traditional veddah menu, but the road construction.

Interestingly, when this column tried to get an official from the Highways Ministry to explain whether this is an authorised road and if so, whether the Director General of Wildlife Conservation has approved the construction process, such questions only drew a blank.

With the road construction in progress, it not just the habitat reduction that the veddahs oppose. They fear this will give rise to biodiversity issues as well.

According to information available, the new road will connect the Padiyathalawa – Mahiyanganaya road with Kandagammana. It is to be some 30 feet wide. Two miles of the road will pass through the Maduru Oya forest reserve.

The veddahs naturally feel that they are getting a raw deal here. While they are quite clear on not wanting to hamper development and progress in any way, they naturally feel violated by the authorities and feel that, in the guise of development, their freedoms are being curtailed.

According to science writer and environmentalist, Nalaka Gunawardene, a declared national park is primarily considered inviolable and an infrastructure project that cuts through the park would require sanction by the necessary authorities.

"In any case, the declaration of this national park was opposed by the veddhas two and a half decades ago. It resulted in the shrinking of their habitat, altered their lifestyle considerably and naturally leads to different problems from time to time," adds Gunawardene.

As expected, the Highways Ministry officials when questioned over this new phase in developing the area offered no comment while some preferred to remain noncommittal.

At least one, Deputy Minister of Highways W.B. Ekanayake admitted that while he was aware of some construction of a road through the veddah land, pleaded innocence with regard to the possible official arm that’s responsible for it!

Situated in the dry zone and spreading over 58,849 hectares of land, Maduru Oya was declared a nature reserve in 1993.

Since its declaration, the veddah community has had brushes with the law, sometimes leading to the arrest of veddhas under the Flora and Fauna Protection Act for bearing unlicensed muzzle loaders, kris knives, gun powder and their traditional weapon, the hand axe.

Prior to the launching of the Mahaweli Scheme, the then government agent carried out a census of the area to ascertain the genuine inhabitants and it was on that basis that the veddahs were allowed to remain in the area and to lead their traditional lives and engage in their customary practices.

The authorities subsequently took some steps to protect the rights of the veddahs. Chief among them was a legal amendment that granted the veddahs the right to hunt in their traditional hunting grounds. They were also issued special identification cards by the DWLC in recognition of their traditional rights. And yet, there is this road of sheer controversy that will soon cut across their habitat and alter their lives.