Gal Oya

The Gal Oya is a 108 km (67 mi) long river, in southeast Sri Lanka. It is the 16th longest river in Sri Lanka. It begins in the hills east of Badulla and flows northeast, emptying into the Indian Ocean south of Kalmunai.

The river was dammed in 1948 as part of the Gal Oya scheme. The dam created the Senanayake Samudra — the largest reservoir in Sri Lanka, at Bintenne. Resettlement of the Tamils and Sinhalese people displaced in this scheme gave rise to among the first ethnic riots in Sri Lanka.

The Gal Oya project resulted in the formation of the 100,000 acre Gal Oya basin. This basin has since been used for cultivating paddy, chillies, sugarcane and potatoes. The Gal Oya National Park in the vicinity has a wide variety of wildlife including bears, leopards and elephants.

See also

• List of rivers in Sri Lanka
• Gal Oya Dam
• Gal Oya National Park
• Gal Oya riots

References

1. 1956 anti-Tamil pogrom
2. Gal Oya Dam
3. Gal Oya National Park
4. Ampara Airport
5. Uva Province
6. List of rivers of Sri Lanka
7. Gal Oya Junction
8. Senanayake Samudraya
9. List of railway stations in Sri Lanka by line
10. Sri Lankan state-sponsored colonization schemes
11. Ampara
12. Monaragala District
13. List of rivers of Asia
14. List of railway stations in Sri Lanka
15. D. S. Senanayake
16. List of airports in Sri Lanka
17. Maha Oya
18. Sri Lanka Railways
19. Deduru Oya
20. R. L. Brohier