Govt saved over 60,000 lives from Mavilaru water blockade –
President
Chaminda PERERA
The government succeeded in ensuring the basic right of water to more
than 60,000 people whose lives were at stake due to the closure of the
Mavilaru sluice gate by the terrorists in 2006, President Mahinda
Rajapaksa said yesterday.
He said the government deployed Security Forces to ensure water
supplies to these people as LTTE terrorists rejected repeated requests
by the government to open the gate for seven days. It was the biggest
operation in recent history to ensure water to thousands of people,
mainly farmers, though the country is facing the music for this
humanitarian act in Geneva, he said.
The President said the closure of the Mavil Aru sluice gate denied
water to 60,000 people.
“More than 2,100 hectares of paddy land in the area were completely
devastated by this act,” he said.
President Rajapaksa was speaking at the inauguration of the Sri Lanka
Water Convention at the BMICH to mark World Water Day.
The theme of World Water Day is International Year of Water
Cooperation.
He also opened the international exhibition organised to coincide
World Water Day at the BMICH.
A book on Sri Lanka’s water heritage written by Professor J B
Dissanyake was presented to the President by the author.
Employees who served the National Water Supply and Drainage Board for
more than 35 years received awards from the President.
Board employees donated their day’s pay totaling Rs 3 million to
implement programmes to alleviate kidney disease in the North Central
Province.
President Rajapaksa said Sri Lankans have understood the importance
of water and its preservation.
“We have been made to think that water resources are the lifeblood of
the nation,” he said.
The President said many countries face a water crisis though Sri
Lanka is blessed with ample water resources.
He said all citizens should take the responsibility to protect this
national heritage. President Rajapaksa said all resources of the country
should be properly manged for the benefit of the future generation.
“The government has given prominence to protect natural resources and
the environment, even while development activities are being
implemented,” he said.
The President recollected how instructions were given to the
authorities to plant a tree on behalf of every tree removed from the
site where the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport was constructed.
Sri Lanka has many experiences with regard to water cooperation, he
said. President Rajapaksa said Sri Lankans use more water than they
require. “This will be detrimental to the agricultural sector in the
future,” he said.
It was his view that all institutions should join together and
implement a mechanism to educate farmers on the preservation of water.
He said farmers have become more enthusiastic in engaging in
agriculture than any other era. “ I have received information that many
youths who were employed in private security firms have gone back to
villages to do farming. It is during our time that the farmers received
special attention,” the President said.
He said the government has placed special focus on the protection of
the environment.
President Rajapaksa said Sri Lankans have a ritual of making the
first transaction with the well at the Sinhala and Hindu New Year.
He said the government will increase the number of households with
pipe borne water facilities from 45 percent to 60 percent by 2015.
Anunayake Thera of the Amarapura Nikaya Most Ven Kotugoda Dhammawasa
Thera and Emeritus Archbishop of Colombo Rt Rev Oswald Gomis, Water
Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Public Administration
and Home Affairs Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne and Deputy Minister
Nirupama Rajapaksa were also present.
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