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| Tuesday, 10 August 2004 |
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by Uditha Kumarasinghe The drought in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts is worsening and nearly 200,000 families are undergoing severe hardships, North Central Province Chief Minister Berty Premalal Dissanayake told the Daily News yesterday. The Government through the Social Services Ministry and the North Central Provincial Council has taken a series of emergency measures to combat the drought and alleviate those affected. They include the digging of new wells, renovating damaged tube wells and the provision of drinking water through water bowsers, he said. The Central Government has decided to provide assistance to drought stricken families, Dissanayake said. A special District Co-ordinating Committee meeting was held at Central Bank auditorium, Anuradhapura yesterday where the decisions to grant drought relief in the affected districts were taken, the Chief Minister said. He said the decisions were communicated to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. The Presidential Secretariat will provide guidelines to the Social Services Ministry to grant financial assistance to drought stricken families in the two districts. The Chief Minister said 158,989 families in all 25 Divisional Secretariat divisions of the Anuradhapura district are facing an acute shortage of drinking water. In addition, 90 per cent of the lands in the Anuradhapura district have not been cultivated due to the severe drought. This has caused farmers to abandon cultivation for the 2004 Yala season and are also faced with hardships to cultivate the forthcoming Maha season. Meanwhile, the drought has affected 38,000 families in the Polonnaruwa district too where there is a severe drinking water problem. As a result of the drought, nearly 34,000 acres of cultivated lands have been destroyed in the Polonnaruwa district, he said. The Chief Minister said he has appointed two Provincial Steering Committees for Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts following a meeting held on August 2. Steering Committees were also appointedto each Divisional Secretariat division under the supervision of Divisional Secretaries. Three emergency measures were taken at this Provincial Steering Committee meeting to renovate damaged tube wells, construct wells within tanks and provide drinking water to the people from bowsers, he said. The North Central Provincial Council has decided to grant Rs.50,000 to every Pradeshiya Sabha to renovate tube wells in these two districts. Due to the dearth of water bowsers, the Provincial Council has sought the President's assistance to get more water bowsers from other provinces to provide drinking water to the people. A request has also been made from the Social Services Ministry to obtain 300 water containers. The Chief Minister said the Social Services Ministry has granted Rs.300,000 to the Anuradhapura District Secretary to tackle problems resulting from the drought in the district. Rs.100,000 has been reserved to dig wells. The Water Supply and Drainage Board has warned that the drinking water problem in Anuradhapura may worsen due to a shortage of water and pollution. Water is mainly provided to the Anuradhapura district through the Tisa Weva and Nuwara Weva. Water in these two tanks have been polluted due to the dumping of garbage to these tanks by pilgrims. Police have decided to keep vehicles away from these two tanks. Meanwhile, the Agriculture Ministry sources disclosed that the drought has led to the spread of hoof and mouth disease in the Anuradhapura and Kurunegala districts. Agriculture and Livestock Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake has directed Ministry officials to take immediate measures to prevent the spread of the disease. The Ministry requested dairy farmers to take the cattle affected by the disease to a Veterinary Surgeon or a Livestock Development Officer. If this situation worsens, Minister Dissanayake has decided to seek Indian experts assistance to overcome the situation. |
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