Gama Neguma on poverty reduction drive

Ariyapala WANSATHILAKE, Kurunegala Central special correspondent

Under the Gama Neguma programme, the Government has initiated a programme to reduce poverty by helping the poor to increase their income, said Rural Industries and Self-Employment Promotion Minister S.B. Navinna at Kotawehera in the Nikaweratiya electorate recently.

He was addressing a meeting after laying the foundation stone for a pottery industrial centre at Kotawehera in Nikaweratiya.

He said, under the Gama Neguma programme local producers have to face various problems to import machinery. “Our aim is to improve local industries islandwide. We need to stick to accepted standards and our target is to develop local products,” he added.

Minister Navinna said, under Gama Neguma, the Government will upgrade all remote villages in the area. The total cost is Rs. 19.4 million. He said during the previous SLFP Governments under S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and Sirimavo Bandaranaike, progressive policies were implemented to develop rural industries.

But the successive UNP Government eliminated all such policies. Laksala Chairperson and former MP Nikaweratiya Soma Kumari Tennakoon said the Nikaweratiya DS division will carry out a massive development drive to uplift remote villages under Mahinda Chinthanaya.