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| Thursday, 27 January 2005 |
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| Cabinet has not approved any National Water Policy - Agriculture Minister by Uditha Kumarasinghe Agriculture, Lands and Irrigation Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday stressed that the Cabinet has not approved any National Water policy so far and what it has approved is only the setting up of a Sub Committee to draft a National Water Policy. This Ministerial Sub Committee comprise the secretaries of Mahaweli and River Basin ministry, Urban Development ministry, Power and Energy ministry and Agriculture and Irrigation ministry." Therefore, the cabinet approval was only given to set up this Ministerial Sub Committee," Minister Dissanayake told a media briefing at his Ministry yesterday. The Minister said: "Formulating a National Water Policy is entrusted to the Irrigation Ministry. Except for a National Water Policy prepared by the Irrigation Ministry, we will not allow the approval of any other water policy." He said: "the water resource solely belong to the country's people. We will never endorse handing over the country's water resources to any multinational company. The need of the hour is to lay key emphasis on a scientific water management method and not to sell water resource to any multinational companies. Therefore, the Irrigation Ministry will formulate a National Water Policy which will not provide any room to sell the country's water resource." Dissanayake said due to various conspiracies by the former UNF Government to vest the water resource with the multinational companies, the SLFP and the JVP vowed in its Freedom Alliance manifesto to dedicate themselves to safeguard the water resource as a sacred right of country's people. The Minister said: "When the Irrigation Ministry was in the process of formulating a National Water Resource Policy, steps were taken to vest several subjects that came under its purview to the Mahaweli and River Basin Ministry. Later the Mahaweli Ministry informed that they are going to formulate a new water policy and requested the nomination of a representative from Irrigation Ministry for it. However, we informed the Mahaweli Ministry that the Irrigation Ministry has already formulated a national water policy." The Minister said:" We pointed out to the Cabinet that the national water policy and its relevant Bills should be formulated by the Irrigation Ministry and even the Cabinet also accepted this fact. Finally, it was proposed to appoint a ministerial sub committee to formulate a national water policy. However, the Cabinet report has mentioned that the Cabinet approved a national water policy. But at the next cabinet meeting we corrected this error." The New Water Resource Secretariat has also been set up under the purview of the Mahaweli Ministry. But the Irrigation Ministry and Water Resource Board have all the information and resources needed to formulate a national water policy. Therefore, there is no need of a new institution for this purpose. According to the Water Resource Board Act, it has the sole right to formulate a national water policy. Due to vesting of several subjects of the Irrigation Ministry to the Mahaweli Ministry, the right of formulating a water policy has gone to the Mahaweli Ministry. An agreement has been reached to give these subjects vested with the Mahaweli Ministry to the Irrigation Ministry, he said. |
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