The government intends to gazette land in the Mailathamadu–Madavanam area of Batticaloa as designated grazing land, settling a dispute that has pitted local dairy farmers against cultivators from Ampara District, Minister Sunil Handunnetti said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the Batticaloa District Coordinating Committee meeting on 29 September, Handunnetti said a decision had been taken at presidential level to resolve the matter, Newswire reported.
What the gazette would do
Steps are being taken to designate the area as grazing land with the agreement of the Mahaweli Authority and the Department of Forest Conservation — the two bodies whose land classifications currently govern it.
Two things would follow. Dairy farmers’ rights to use the grazing land would be confirmed. The other parties would be offered alternative land in the Mahaweli area.
The dispute
Handunnetti said dairy farmers had traditionally moved their cattle into the area during cultivation periods, and that problems arose from cultivation activities carried out by parties from the Ampara District.
He said certain groups were attempting to turn the dispute into an ethnic conflict, and that the government would not allow that “under any circumstances”. The rights and security of all communities would be protected, he said.
The Mailathamadu grazing lands — also rendered Mayilaththamadu or Mailaththamadu — have been contested for years, with Tamil cattle farmers in Batticaloa reporting loss of access after resettlement programmes in the district. The Daily Mirror has previously documented the deterioration of the farmers’ position and the communal tensions around the grazing lands. Those are background reports, not accounts of Tuesday’s announcement.
Also at the meeting
Handunnetti said immediate measures would be taken against unlicensed sand, soil and gravel mining in the district, working through a formal mechanism with the Police and the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau. Unlicensed mining would not be permitted under any circumstances, he said.
The committee also heard that forest conservation officials in Batticaloa lack transport. The minister said the district’s share of motorcycles distributed across the Eastern Province was insufficient and that the matter would be taken up at ministerial level.
No gazette date, land extent or number of affected farming families was given, and the report does not say when the alternative Mahaweli land would be allocated.
