Eastern Province will be brought on par with WP - Basil Rajapaksa ,MP

Panchamee HEWAVISSENTI

COLOMBO: The Government is planning to develop the Eastern Province on par with the Western Province, within the next five years with the “Reawakening of the East” specially targeted to achieve that objective, MP Basil Rajapaksa said.

Addressing a two-day workshop for the stakeholder of the, ‘Eastern Reawakening’ at the BMICH on Saturday, Rajapaksa said the Government aims to increase the present supply of electricity of 58 per cent to 78 per cent by the end of year 2010.

Apart from this the Government is hoping to fulfil the electricity requirement by 100 per cent by the year 2016 in the Eastern province, he added

Over 300 delegates from the Presidential Secretariat, Government Ministries, Corporations, Statutary Boards, NGOs, INGOs, civil and voluntary organisations attended the two-day workshop which ended on Saturday, September 22

This is the first time a forum was organised focusing on the development of merely a single province

The Government expects to distribute lands and deeds for those who have been displaced from their native places due to LTTE threats.

The Government is also formulating plans to provide financial assistance for those building their own houses Apart from that, the abandoned paddy fields in the province will also be developed and cultivated.

High quality seeds will be distributed among farmers in the East in order to enable the farmers to contribute to the national economy

Rajapaksa said they would make arrangements to clear all landmines to facilitate the farmers to work without any fear

Several countries have already made arrangements to support the Government’s efforts to rebuild the East,including Japan,India and also several NGOs and INGOs.

All the restrictions that have been imposed upon fishermen to engage in fishing in the deep sea too have been relaxed “In order to strengthen the security in the area,new police stations and guard points would be established across the Eastern Province”, the MP added

Ministers Ferial Ashraff, Mahinda Samarasinghe, P. Dayaratne, Susantha Punchinilame, Mohammed Faizal Cassim, Abdul Majeed, Rishak Baddurdeen, Hassan Ali and several ministry secretaries too graced the occasion

Secretaries of the Ministries of Tourism, Highways, Power and Energy, Housing and Public Utility, Water Resources, Ports and Aviation briefed the roles of their respective ministries in the ‘Eastern Reawakening’ programme.