Compensation for Mavilaru farmer victims

Uditha Kumarasinghe

COLOMBO: The Government through the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board (AAIB) has decided to grant Rs. 10,000 as immediate compensation to farmers per each acre of paddy land destroyed after the LTTE blocked the Mavilaru anicut.

The AAIB will grant this compensation to all affected farmers in Mavilaru, Muttur, Kantale, Serunuwara, Seruwila, Alla and Mahindapura farmer colonies in Trincomalee district whose paddy cultivations were severely affected as a result of the water blockade by the LTTE, Agrarian Services and Farmer Community Development Minister S.M. Chandrasena told a media briefing yesterday.

The Government has also decided to grant further relief assistance to all displaced farmers until they recommence their cultivation activities and to provide facilities to farmers to resume their cultivation at the next season, he said.

According to the Minister, the AAIB will grant compensation only to farmers who have registered under the farmer insurance scheme implemented by the AAIB. However, not even five per cent of farmers in these affected areas have obtained the membership of this insurance scheme. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed the AAIB to insure all affected farmers under the AAIB insurance scheme and grant compensation at the rate of Rs. 10,000 per acre to each farmer for the paddy land destroyed, he said.

Over 20,000 acres of paddy lands in these affected areas have been destroyed due to the LTTE's move to close the sluice gates of Mavilaru anicut.

AAIB officials are making estimates on the damages caused to the paddy cultivations of farmers in these affected areas, the Minister said.

The AAIB will complete the provision of these compensation to all affected farmers within one month, he said.

The Government through the Ministries of Nation Building, Disaster Relief and Resettlement is providing immediate relief to all displaced farmer families. The Government has dispatched over 100 lorries of dry rations to the affected areas in the Trincomalee district.

The Government has also sent special medical teams to several affected areas such as Serunuwara, Muttur and Thopur. The Resettlement Ministry is making arrangements to resettle farmers who fled to Kantale from Muttur and Thopur areas who have been temporarily sheltered in several camps in Kantale, the Minister said.

According to the Minister, the Mavilaru anicut belongs to the Irrigation Department of the Central Government.

Therefore the LTTE has no right to demand the ownership to it or put the country's farmers into severe hardships through such inhuman acts. The LTTE engaging in such inhuman activities attempt to gain undue advantage. The water of Mavilaru belongs entirely to the farmers.

The Government has a responsibility to re-open the Mavilaru anicut. Therefore the Government has undertaken limited operations on humanitarian grounds to restore the basic requirements of water to farmers in the affected areas, he said.

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Dry rations for Muttur civilians

COLOMBO:A programme to collect dry rations for Muttur civilians displaced following terrorist attacks will be launched today at 11 a.m. at the Old Town Hall, Colombo Fort.

Transport Minister A.H.M. Fowzie requested the public to contribute to the programme by handing over dry rations. Details about the programme could be obtained on 0777-360399.