Drought-stricken A’pura to get 5,000 agro wells

Priyanka Kurugala, TennEkoon Kulasekara and Kithsiri Wanasinghe

The government on the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa will build 5,000 agro wells in the Anuradhapura district to cope with the drought and as a relief measure to farmers, Agrarian Services and Wildlife Minister S M Chandrasena said.

He was addressing a meeting of farming associations in the Anuradhapura district at Kurundankulama on Saturday.

This programme will be implemented in the North Central Province to renovate agrarian wells in the area.

Minister Chandrasena said in addition to this, farmers will be provided Rs 10,000 to renovate agrarian wells.

There are around 4,000 agrarian wells in the Anuradhapura district. However, these had not been maintained during the past 10 to 12 years. Chandrasena said funds will be allocated to farmers through the Agrarian Services Department offices.

The minister said the move was initiated by the President who requested the authorities to take steps to renovate irrigation systems and wells in the agricultural areas to help retain more water during the rainy seasons.

He said the government will also provide equipment to renovate agrarian wells.

It had been identified that one agrarian well has the capacity to provide water to two or three acres. Twelve backhoe machines were also provided along with 20 water motors.

Another 200 water motors are to be provided with immediate effect.

The government has also directed farmers to build small wells close to large reservoirs .