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Thursday Nov 14, 2024
Monday, 3 March 2014 01:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Turning from Galgamuwa junction after travelling along the Kurunegala-Anuradhapura highway a visitor can reach the farming communities which recall the historic tank economy of Pallekele, Kahalla.
The concept of the tank, dagaba, village and temple is rooted in Sri Lankan psyche since ancient times. The tanks which were the mainstay of the country’s agricultural civilisation were neglected and subsequently destroyed in the later decades. But thanks to the giant steps taken to boost agriculture in recent years, the concept has been revived despite the partial disappearance of the culture associated with tanks. Even today 75% of Sri Lanka’s population lives in rural areas.
Today good fortune has dawned on the villages in the Anuradhapura, Puttalam, Kurunegala and Kegalle Districts following the free distribution by the Government of roofing tiles to 85,000 low-income families. Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is also the President of the Deyata Kirula National Development Program, initiated this free distribution in accordance with a concept of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Assisting the Government in this venture is the All Island Clay Roofing Tile Manufacturers Association.
Under this program each low-income family is provided with 1,000 roofing tiles worth Rs. 30,000. A total of Rs. 2,500 million is spent on providing tiles to 85,000 families. Those qualified to receive these tiles are people who use thatched coconut leaves, corrugated sheets and straw for the roofs of their homes. Already 32,000 families in the Anuradhapura District have received tiles. The free distribution of tiles for fixing the roofs of 52,000 such houses of the Kurunegala, Kegalle and Puttalam will be completed within this year. These high-quality tiles with a guarantee are supplied almost entirely by the All Island Clay Roofing Tile Manufacturers Association.
The program has achieved two objectives. One is the provision of better houses for low-income groups. The other is the revival of the local roofing tile industry which had almost collapsed. The industry’s revival has increased employment opportunities and strengthened the local economy.
Consequently 156 roofing tile factories which had been closed down have now reopened providing jobs to around 10,000 people. There are 312 main roofing tile factories in the Wennappuwa, Katana and Katugampola Electorates. Of these 256 are small factories. The rest are five large factories and 51 medium ones. The tiles these factories earlier produced included Euro and Calicut. Production has restarted following the purchase of tiles under the Divi Neguma National program.
The number directly employed in Sri Lanka’s roofing tile industry is 7,750 while 16,000 have found indirect employment. The industry’s revival has brought immense benefit to 190,000 family members of those who depend on it directly and indirectly, according to Roofing Tile Manufacturers Association President Baptist Fernando.
The current progress is the result of the association’s representatives commencing talks with Minister Rajapaksa in 2012. The services of tile manufacturers were thus obtained for national development under the annual Deyata Kirula programme, which led to an increase in the rate of roofing tile production and an increase in the income of factory owners. More job opportunities resulted and factory owners were able to increase the pay of employees thus raising their living standards. The roofing tiles of different designs fetched good prices in the open market.
A group of Indian nationals opened the first roofing tile factory in Waikkal in 1910. Later Sri Lankans opened the first locally-owned roofing tile factory in Nainamadama in 1923. In later years Sri Lanka-made tiles were exported even to Bangalore in India.
In 1928 a wooden mould for roofing tiles was turned out at the tile Factory in Matara Yatiyana. Although some Pakistanis started a roofing tile factory in Noorani, Waikkal, it stopped functioning in 1953.
By the beginning of the 1980s nearly 500 roofing tile factories were in operation in the country. But they ceased operations over a decade ago as a result of the introduction of the open economy in 1977. There was however six tile factories still functioning in the towns of Mawathagama, Chilaw, Bangadeniya, and Alepaththa in Anuradhapura and in also a factory Jaffna. The popular brands of roofing tiles in the 1960s were Vijaya, Lankamatha, Kotiya and Parawiya.
There was a high demand for roofing tiles in the 1980s following the discovery that asbestos was very harmful to human health.
We visited happy families in a number of houses with roofing tiles in the Anuradhapura District. We met Dingiri Menika, a 48-year-old mother of four in Thirappane, Anuradhapura and Jayasiri of Mihinthale and Kumari Tennekoon of Oyamaduwa among them. Theirs is the story of all those who received free roofing tiles under Deyata Kirula.
(The writer is an environmental journalist who could be reached at [email protected].)
