President meets Kandy district coordinating committee
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake emphasized that a unified operational mechanism, which goes beyond the normal state administration, is required to restore public life after a disaster.
The President stated this while participating in the Kandy District Coordinating Committee meeting held at the Kandy District Secretariat this morning (06).
During the meeting, the President separately reviewed the progress of the rapid programs underway to restore essential infrastructure in the district, including the highway network, electricity, water and fuel supply, irrigation systems and communication facilities.
The President instructed officials to utilize the allocated provisions for the next 25 days to complete road clearing activities swiftly, until the permanent reconstruction of roads is completed The President also instructed that water supply in the district be fully restored within three days. Until then, the water requirements of the public should be met through bowsers and such activities must be carried out as an emergency measure beyond the usual procedure, with technical support from the Tri-Forces.
Further, he instructed that the cleaning of household wells be carried out under the coordination of Divisional Secretariats and that electricity supply in the district be restored by 31 December through temporary repairs, while major reconstruction work will be carried into the second phase.
The President pointed out the need to identify arable lands and give priority to cultivation. He instructed that cultivable paddy fields be identified urgently and supplied with the required irrigation water and highlighted the importance of coordinated action by the Department of Irrigation, Provincial Irrigation Department and the Department of Agrarian Development.He also instructed officials to expedite the payment of the Rs. 200,000 compensation allocated to identified farmers and fields and to submit a report on the extent of vegetable cultivation affected in the district within two weeks. Accordingly, Rs. 150,000 per hectare will be paid as compensation to the affected vegetable farmers and necessary amendments will be made to provide the same compensation for losses incurred in banana cultivation.
The impact on the livestock sector due to the disaster was also broadly discussed. The President highlighted the need to maintain updated data regarding the number of farms and livestock.He explained the need to restart damaged livestock farms swiftly, to restore income sources for the farmers and to meet the country’s food needs, including milk, poultry and eggs