Country's poverty picture getting erased systematically - minister

Ishara Mudugamuwa

The poverty picture of Sri Lanka is getting erased and the picture of prosperity is emerging systematically, Construction Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Minister Wimal Weerawansa said.

The minister said, "When we compared the poverty level of the country before and after the war we can see that the poor community is now reaping the benefits of development and make their lives comfortable".

He said that under the present government, the public could be able to reap maximum benefits of government development drive, "Previous governments only showed some development activities to the public and never provide benefits to them. But under the of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's leadership large scale development activities currently going on and the government has taken measures to provide benefits of these development activities directly to the public," he said.

The minister also said current development activities not only limited to one side. Previous governments launched large scale development projects. But they were not succeeded to solve the problems of the public. With the dawn of peace the President started a large number of development activities appropriate for all social standards of the country.

The government invested a large amount of money for the construction of roads.

"New highways, ports, libraries, power plants, airports, parks, hospitals and many other development projects have been launched by the government. Now people can live freely and happily. Some organized groups try to destroy the peaceful situation of the country.

So the public always should be on alert about all local and foreign conspiracies against the country and defeat them,"Weerawansa said.