Text and pics By Maheesha Mudugamuwa REporting from the north central province On a road leading to Anuradhapura town, Chandrakumara Dissanayake was busy selling fruits under a street umbrella. A visibly tired Dissanayake waits in hope for customers to buy his fruits so that he may earn a living and support his family. The Sunday Morning spoke to the 37-year-old fruit vendor last Tuesday (8), just a day after nominations were accepted for the upcoming presidential election. “This is all I can do now,” Dissanayake said, with a fading smile on his face. “We are struggling to earn a living. The prices of all goods have gone up and with the small sum we earn from this business, we barely manage our day-to-day expenses.” Dissanayake, a resident of Anuradhapura, the capital city of the North Central Province (NCP), is a father of two children and is now suffering from an unidentified kidney disease. “Before I commenced my fruit businesses, I was in the Army and served for 12 years. Unfortunately, I had to leave the Army because of the kidney issue,” he said, adding: “First, I was suffering from a backache and did a number of tests, but the doctors couldn’t find out what was actually wrong with me. Finally, in one test, they found that I had kidney stones in both kidneys. I spent hundreds of thousands of rupees on treatment, but still, the doctors couldn’t locate the stones even after another series of tests.” Dissanayake is also a member of the Army’s peacekeeping mission in Haiti. Despite the difficulties faced by Dissanayake and his family, the Anuradhapura Municipal Council (AMC) has, on many occasions, forced them to remove their temporary hut by the street, which is the family’s sole source of income. “We also like to own our own shop in the town, but we can’t afford the rent. That’s why we put up an umbrella and started this business here. This won’t affect anybody,” he stressed. Showing us a small blue kiosk placed near his umbrella, Dissanayake said: “I had to pay Rs. 15,000 to buy this.” He continued: “They don’t care about us. The only time politicians come here is when they want our votes,” Dissanayake said, rolling his eyes. “Many families in this region have been struggling to earn a living over so many years and so they actually don’t have time to think about elections.” The story of Dissanayake sums up the situation of the entire NCP. Significant vote base The NCP is the largest province covering 16% of the country and omprisee two districts – Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. It was here that the early dreams of agricultural self-sufficiency came into being as Sri Lankan farmers dotted the land with rice paddies that today produce enough rice to feed the nation’s 21 million people. Besides the predominant rice crops, other products cultivated throughout the year include sesame, millet, chillies, peanuts, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. More than 65% of the Province’s population depends on farming. Anuradhapura is the capital of the NCP and the largest district in the country with a population of around 930,000 (as at 2018) across 717,900 hectares. Hoisting UNESCO World Heritage Sites, at the city’s core is Buddhism and its people due to the town’s grandeur history and the vast array of Buddhist monuments that date back to more than 2,000 years. Anuradhapura consists of seven electoral districts; namely, Medawachchiya, Horowpothana, Anuradhapura East, Anuradhapura West, Kalawewa, Mihintale, and Kekirawa. The district had 682,450 registered voters in 2018, according to the Election Commission (EC). This number can be further broken down based on ethnicity: 618,988 Sinhalese, 4,893 Tamils, and 56,836 Muslims voters. Polonnaruwa was also once the capital and one of ancient Sri Lanka’s most prosperous kingdoms during a time when the nation was self-sufficient in food and exported the surplus; Polonnaruwa still represents Sri Lanka’s past glory. Minor irrigation reservoirs built in the days of yore, although scattered throughout, still remain the backbone of the farming community. Today, the paddy cultivator pleads for marketing facilities, and abandoned tanks and roads in bad condition are a huge obstacle to progress. The total number of registered voters in the Polonnaruwa District, according to the voter registry of 2018, is 326,443. The number comprises voters of Minneriya (88,297), Medirigiriya (82,123), and Polonnaruwa (156,023). According to the 2011 census published by the Department of Census and Statistics, 89.7% of the population were Buddhist, 7.5% Muslim, 1.7% Hindu, and 1% Christian. Today’s context What makes the NCP interesting in the context of the presidential election is that both the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Districts are home to two SLFP heavyweights; Polonnaruwa is the political base of President Maithripala Sirisena and Anuradhapura is where SLFP National Organiser Duminda Dissanayake’s father Berty Premalal Dissanayake held sway as Chief Minister for 13 years. However, Dissanayake and the SLFP last week pledged their support to Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa while President Sirisena decided to stay politically neutral. In the meantime, it was worth mentioning that at the presidential election in January 2015, the Anuradhapura District voted for Mahinda Rajapaksa but the Polonnaruwa District voted for their hometown candidate Sirisena. But at the August 2015 general election that followed, the UPFA, which had candidates from both Rajapaksa and Sirisena camps of the SLFP, again emerged victorious in the Anuradhapura District while the UNP emerged winners in Polonnaruwa.

Anuradhapura District

Forgotten by politicians At present, the situation here in the NCP is different from that of 2018 when the last local government election was held where people eagerly awaited voting for their candidates. As noticed by The Sunday Morning, the majority of the people in the NCP avoid talking about politics. Instead, they are angry. They want their problems to be solved and the suffering to end. They want safe water and good prices for their products. They want a happy life. Reeling from falling crop prices, rising production costs, and mounting debt, impoverished farmers in the NCP have been demanding help. Although the time has come for this huge constituency to vote, some have lost all hope. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, a resident of Devanampiyatissa Pura in Anuradhapura, R. Naushad, said: “If you come to our village, you will see the situation. We don’t have roads, water, or anything. This village was formed by former President Ranasinghe Premadasa in the late 1980s and the village is still the same as the day it was formed.” Naushad sells bananas on the side of a street near New Town, Anuradhapura. “Travelling to and from the village is very difficult as we have only one bus from Devanampiyatissa Pura to Anuradhapura. None of the politicians we voted for have visited our village after the last general election,” he stressed. “This time, we have to think twice and it will definitely be a tough decision which we have not yet even thought about,” Naushad stressed. Longstanding issues unaddressed Meanwhile, speaking to The Sunday Morning, National People’s Power (NPP) Polonnaruwa District Organiser T.B. Sarath said that none of the politicians or governments built new reservoirs in the NCP to solve the water crisis there. “If a government can’t supply the basic needs of its people, why is there a government?” he questioned. “The majority of these farmers are debt-ridden and some are committing suicide as they cannot pay back their loans. A majority of them are women. This is the situation in Polonnaruwa,” Sarath said, adding that the people in Polonnaruwa and its suburbs don’t have a voice as the representatives they elected to speak on their behalf are also turning a blind eye. “The cost of production is high, but there’s no controlled price for the crops and the middlemen are earning huge sums of money while the poor farmers are suffering. After harvesting, the farmers get only a small amount which is not even enough to fulfil their needs. On the other hand, the consumers are also paying large sums of money to buy farming products. Only the middlemen earn profits,” he stressed. In Polonnaruwa, only a few businessmen with the blessings of politicians earn profits from major businesses like rice and sand mining, according to Sarath. As learnt by The Sunday Morning, the younger generation in Polonnaruwa and its suburbs has started migrating to other districts in search of jobs due to the lack of proper jobs in the Province. “No major development projects have been started in these areas. Only the businesses and government offices are here. We have a good hospital, but there’s a shortage of consultants,” he stressed. A majority of the residents in Polonnaruwa travel to Kandy or Anuradhapura for treatment, Sarath added. In addition, microfinance loans have become another major issue faced by the rural community in the NCP. According to experts, the shift from an empowering microfinance loan industry to a highly commercialised profit-driven industry took place after 2010, which has led to the problematic situation that prevails today. Nearly 172 suicides in the country have been attributed to the microfinance debt trap; unable to pay back the loans, some borrowers chose to end their lives. Premachandra Dayananda, a fisherman in Polonnaruwa, told The Sunday Morning that he obtained a loan from one of the companies several years ago and couldn’t pay it back as he was unwell over the past few years. “When you look at us, you can see how difficult it is for us to earn money to live,” he said. Another farmer, Bandula Jayakody said he abandoned his paddy fields as he couldn’t bear the expenses. “The cost of production is high and we get only a small sum of money from the rice mill owners. I have two-and-a-half hectares, but didn’t cultivate this year. All I’m doing right now is working in whatever job I can find,” he stressed. Meanwhile, a betel leaf seller, R. Victor stressed that he spent the last few years searching for a proper job for his only son who had obtained three passes in the Advanced Level (A/L) examination in the maths stream. “I had the same problem. I passed O/L (Ordinary Level) and A/L and went for an interview at a local bank, but I was not selected because I had no political backing. That has not been changed. Even now, we need political backing to find a proper job. My son is now working as an attendant in a hospital in Colombo,” he stressed. Supporting what Victor said, M. Fawumiya, a resident of a Muslim colony in Polonnaruwa, stressed that she was also a victim of not having any political push to secure a job. “Earlier, I worked at the Polonnaruwa Museum as a Tamil translator but the Ministry didn’t employ me as a permanent worker. The vacancy is still there. It’s because I had no political backing. Only those who have connections with politicians can obtain government jobs,” she stressed. Among the problems faced by the people in the NCP is the lack of access to safe drinking water, which is the worst problem ever faced by the people in the Province. “We don’t understand why no government solved this water issue,” another resident stressed. “They plan a number of projects, but right now, we don’t have water to drink.” Sri Lanka receives an islandwide rainfall of between 2,200-1,900 mm on average and the total annual precipitation amounts to 132 billion cubic metres, according to the Department of Census and Statistics. As such, it can be concluded that there is an abundant supply of water to the island. Nevertheless, this supply of water is not equally distributed to all areas of the country due to the lack of a proper mechanism to divert excess water from the South to the North. In Sri Lanka, most of the population obtains their drinking water from wells, hand-pump tube wells, small-scale rural water supply schemes, rainwater harvesting tanks, and irrigation tanks, canals, and streams. Therefore, the poor quality of water sources and groundwater combined result in inadequate drinking water, especially in the NCP. On the other hand, the NCP is suffering from a prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD), which, as predicted by many scientists, is due to the low quality of drinking water. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 15% of the rural population aged 15-70 years in the NCP and the more southern Uva Province are struggling with CKD. In the Anuradhapura District alone, where people exist in low socioeconomic conditions in the many small villages, approximately 16,500 CKD cases devastated families as per 2017 data. Over the past 20 years, 23,000 people have died from and an estimated 69,000 have been diagnosed with CKD. Despite the fact that the CKD is triggered by the lack of access to safe drinking water, successive governments have failed to give a proper solution to the residents in the NCP. Further, poor infrastructure, healthcare, and educational facilities need urgent attention of policymakers while a well-planned development project with special attention to the isolated villages deep in the districts in the NCP is clearly the need of the hour. Undecided voters While travelling through the villages of Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura, The Sunday Morning observed that the air of excitement usually in Colombo during election season no longer exists in these rural areas. Instead, the people are struggling to earn a living. We observed that the residents in both districts had no big hopes and were depressed due to the issues they have been facing. In conclusion, as The Sunday Morning learnt, the people in the NCP, which used to be an SLFP stronghold, is undecided on who they should support. Many people refused to talk about politics out of fear of being labelled as someone’s supporter, while some others refused to talk about politics at all. The situation in Anuradhapura is also similar to that of Polonnaruwa, where people have lost all hope and confidence in politicians. If the current sentiments of the people are not effectively addressed via the political campaigns launched by the three main players – UNP, SLPP, and NPP – there is a possibility for a decrease in the voter turnout in the NCP.

Confident that we will win the election

UPFA MP Shehan Semasinghe In 2005, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa won by approximately 180,000 votes. In 2010, we had approximately 150,000 at a very exceptional election just after the war. But in 2015, the votes were divided as President Maithripala Sirisena left the party. Despite the division, we won our District for President Rajapaksa. Now, we have come together again with the signing of the agreement between the SLFP and SLPP. This year, we would definitely have the majority by 200,000. We are very confident that we will win the election because people hate the Government. All these welfare initiatives and price reductions by the Government will not help them to win the election. The UNP will definitely lose the NCP and the upcoming election.

Increased the grassroots-level campaigns

Former North Central Provincial Council Opposition Leader Anil Ratnayake After the UNP nominated Sajith Premadasa as its presidential candidate, all the UNPers are re-energised and now they have a hope. Therefore, we are very confident that the UNP would definitely be able to get the majority votes in Anuradhapura and the entire NCP. We have also increased the grassroots-level campaigns and within the next two months, we will go from home to home in the entire District and convince the people of the future plans of a UNP Government. Whatever is said by the SLFP, the UNP is very confident that it will get the majority votes at the upcoming election.

Didn’t bring people from different areas

NPP Anuradhapura District Organiser former JVP MP Wasantha Samarasinghe “he people are fed up with the existing systems and they want an alternative force, and the NPP is the only option they have. The NPP’s maiden rally was held in Thambuththegama and while getting ready for the rally, we noticed that people are very helpful and they wanted to show us that they believe in us. They treated us very well. At the maiden rally, we expected the people in Thambuththegama and the surrounding areas to attend and we didn’t bring people from different areas to fill the ground. The campaign is also handled in a very professional and environmentally friendly way. We are adopting a practice of the JVP where we don’t use polythene during elections.

Polonnaruwa District