Despite a plethora of development projects initiated in different parts of the country, there are many small communities that fall between the cracks. One such community is in Deniyaya. It is a Tamil community whose members work on tea plantations.
Galle District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC), with the participation of Buddhist and other religious clergy who are its members, intervened to secure a pipe borne water supply to the plantation workers.
The community, which is a mixed one of Tamils and Sinhalese, was in conflict due to people laying temporary plastic pipes to their homes, which others intercepted and diverted the water to their own homes. The DIRC assisted the community to get a permanent pipe-borne water system that provided for a tap in every home.
NPC Chairman Dr Joe William and Programme Adviser Sumadhu Weerwarne attended the opening ceremony of the water project. They appreciated the work that had been done and noted that the DIRC was fostering a spirit of coexistence and reconciliation in the community.
A Buddhist nun said that her concern was the wellbeing of the people among whom she lived. It mattered to her that the local community did not have access to decent roads and to clean water supply.
She said that the former government had promised a water supply to the people but before they could deliver it, they lost the elections and the plans were not implemented. The new government had not provided the basic facilities for her community.