By Sarah Hannan The Attorney-at-Law appearing for the petitioners of the Uma Oya compensation case informed the Supreme Court that there were major discrepancies in the payments made to the affected farmers by the Government since 2015. Attorney-at-Law Ravindranath Dabare said this when the case on the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development project was taken up on Thursday (5). Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Dabare explained that the farmers whose farmlands were destroyed due to the project since 2015 have been suffering as a result of these discrepancies. He further said that there was no excuse for this as the total payments made so far have been lower than the government estimates. “Our main concern is that the Government has failed to pay the estimated damages to the farmers as promised. For instance, farmers had received varying amounts as compensation for the same land extent situated in the same area.” Farmers too have expressed their displeasure on social media platforms indicating that in the first year, the estimation for an affected farmland sitting on an extent of 40 perches was Rs. 151,000 per cultivation season. However, in the second year, it had dropped to approximately Rs. 30,000. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court instructed the Attorney General’s (AG) Department to submit an extensive report on the compensation payments made to farmers who were adversely affected. The order was issued to Senior Deputy Solicitor General Parinda Ranasinghe who appeared on behalf of the AG’s Department, when the petition filed under No. WR 273/2015 was taken up by the three-member bench presided by Justices Priyantha Jayawardena, Preethi Padman Surasena, and Yasantha Kodagoda. Senior Deputy Solicitor General Ranasinghe informed the court that the water leak at the Uma Oya Project had now been fixed and with the groundwater level improving, the farmers would be able to cultivate their farmlands. The extensive report is to be submitted by 20 July to the Supreme Court through the AG’s Department for observation of how compensation was paid.