Ratnapura, particularly Kiriella, turning into Wild West?

Authorities turning blind eye to mechanised gem mining

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Some powerful businessmen in Ratnapura were engaged in unauthorised mechanised gem mining with the backing of powerful politicians, and their illegal operations caused severe environmental damage and affected the lives of many people, Sajeewa Chamikara of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR) alleged yesterday.

Chamikara told The Island that those businessmen only cared about raking in profits. “However, thousands of people are suffering because they face a serious shortage of water, threat of landslides. There is nothing they can do because politicians and businessmen have suppressed their voice.”

Chamikara alleged that the Police and the Gem and Jewellery Authority had refused to carry out their duties. Officers did not raid the illegal mining sites.

“There has been an increase in the number of licences issued for gem mining. This has encouraged illegal mechanical mining. Gems are expensive but the long-term damage to the environment and the society will be greater.”

Many places along the Ve Ganga were being dug up with backhoes, bulldozers and extractors, and mechanical excavation, was damaging the water sources of the area, he said.

“When the excavated soil is cleaned, a large volume of sediment gets mixed with the river water. Mechanical mining also damages riverbanks, deepens the rivers and affects underground water levels. Because of this, many people are not able to use their wells or to supply water to their farms,” he said.

Chamikara said that there were many adverse social and environmental effects even when mechanical gem mining was done legally. Most of the authorised mechanical mining operations were done in paddy fields, in the Kiriella Divisional Secretariat area, he said. Approval of the Department of Agrarian Services was needed for gem mining in paddy lands and department officials had authorised the mining of some of the most fertile paddy lands in Ratnapura although excavation makes it impossible for these paddy fields to be used again.

“The Gem and Jewellery Authority only allows mechanical mining in sites over an acre. There are many such sites in the district now. Those engaged in this practice, pump out water from the paddy fields to make it easy to dig the mine. However, when they do this, it becomes impossible for nearby paddy fields to operate as well because there is no water. Then there is the depositing sediment in nearby lands when excavated soil is cleaned. This has made hundreds of acres of paddy land uncultivable, but the Department of Agrarian Services has allowed the practice to go on.”