Annual budget for village development has increased - minister

Ganga Ihala group corr

A majority of the country's leaders since independence, including Presidents, came from the urban sector. It was only after 2005 that a man of the village who understood the problems and felt the scent of the village people became President of this country, said Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.

“This is why development came to the village at a rapid pace after 2005,” he said.

He was addressing a meeting after opening several redeveloped roads in Raimale and Gampolawela areas in Ganga Ihala Korale recently.

Aluthgamage said earlier a Pradeshiya Sabha member spent only Rs 25,000 annually for village development while a Provincial Council member spent Rs 1 million and a Parliamentarian Rs 2.5 million.

But today, a Pradeshiya Sabha member spent Rs 20 million while a PC member spent Rs 50 million and a Parliamentarian Rs 200 million. That is why the villages and the cities are developed to ensure overall development of the country, he said.

“The government is a peoples' government which strive hard to uplift the people without succumbing to the pressure exerted by inimical foreign forces,” the minister said.

“It should be recalled that the Ranil Wickremesinghe government of 2001 first pruned the Samurdhi and fertilizer subsidies and denied new employment opportunities to the youths after handing over a part of the country to the LTTE through the notorious ceasefire agreement,” he said.

Aluthgamage thanked the people of Raimale for accomplishing development work which would have cost Rs 2.5 million with the help of a mere Rs 50,000 work material provided by the youths, elders and the Nayake Thera of the temple in the area.