New life for plantation areas

COLOMBO: The Cabinet has granted approval to a memorandum presented by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister for Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development to implement the National Plan of Action (NPA) for the Social Development of Plantation Community and the programmes of activities contained therein with associated cost.

One of the major promises of the Mahinda Chinthana is 'A new life for plantation areas. NPA will be implemented to realise this promise.

The project would permit the allocation of a reasonable amount by the Treasury from domestic funds annually. Donor funds would be mobilised to meet the gaps through the External Resources Department.

In the process of implementing the NPA, a National Secretariat would be setup to coordinate the project. A Director-General to head the organisation and staff will be appointed with the Management Services Department's approval.

Year 2007: 'Year of Accessibility'

The Cabinet has granted approval to a memorandum submitted by Social Services and Social Welfare Minister K. N. Douglas Devananda, to declare 2007 as the 'Year of Accessibility' and seek the support of all Ministries to help implement the provisions of the Regulation on Access to Public Buildings, Common Places and services by Persons with disability by allocating funds from their Annual budgets to make the accessibility rights a reality for the rapidly increasing disable population in the country.

The 'Year of Accessibility' will be declared under the theme 'Accessibility Enables Everyone' to create an enabling environment for the disable persons.