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Prof. Senaratne warns of danger of not maintaining ancient tank bunds
By Samanthi Weerasekera
Sri Lanka had not maintained the ancient tank bunds and most of them were unstable, Professor of Geology at Peradeniya University Atula Senaratne said. He said the bund of the Yoda Wewa in Mannar had developed a number of cracks; some of which were as wide as three inches.
“We really must look into this and address the situation. The Yoda Wewa bund is about five kilometres long and in some areas the bund has weakened, due to erosion. Vehicles like tractors, travel on the bund all the time and this further destabilises the bund,” Prof. Senaratne pointed out.
“However, successive governments have done nothing to maintain the bunds of these tanks. I am not the first person to warn of the danger. If something is not done immediately, we might be headed towards disaster,” he said.