The World Bank had sent in a speaker to argue its well-known case for building more large dams in South Asia, and there were representative from the governments of Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. One would have expected the government of another South Asian nation, and the world's largest democracy, India, to play a key role in this unique affair. But the regional giant stood in isolation as self-defeating, escapist politics dictated that the Government of India would not only not allow any such debate on its own soil (see Himal October 1998), but would also refuse to send any participant to the public hearing.
This was in stark contrast to the Sri Lankan government's attitude. As the WCD hearings opened at the Bandarnaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), it became apparent that the host government had whole-heartedly welcomed the hearings although it did not know what the Commission was likely to say either about large dams or about Sri Lanka's performance on that score.
Sri Lanka's Secretary of the Ministry of Mahaweli Development, T. Ranaviraja, admitted that many of the decisions taken in the past were not based on consultation with communities affected by dam-building.
The big-dam lobby's main argument was that large dams are necessary to augment food production for the increasing populations. It held forth that the food self-sufficiency achieved in post-independence India was due to large dams like Bhakra Nangal.