Following a directive by President Maithripala Sirisena to compensate drought-affected farmers islandwide before the Aluth Avurudha, the Government began releasing payments to the tune of Rs. 4,300 million from yesterday.
The Cabinet of Ministers recently approved funding to provide relief to 184,646 farmers in over 18 districts, affected by the country’s worst drought in decades.
The Director General of the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board, Panduka Weerasinghe said Rs. 929 million was paid to 92,973 farmers in Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kegalle on Friday and another 27, 862 farmers in Gampaha, Kandy, Matale, Galle, Hambantota, Vavuniya, Puttalam, and Ratnapura will receive compensation directly to their bank accounts by April 11.
The government has allocated Rs. 278.6 million for the second batch of drought-affected farmers as compensation.
Another 63,811 farmers in Jaffna, Mannar, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee and Monaragala are eligible to receive compensation from the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board and the District Secretaries and Assistant Agrarian Commissioners are currently finalising their documentation, the Director General said.
Participating at the annual Aluth Sahal Mangallaya in Anuradhapura yesterday, President Maitripala Sirisena also said that the Government had allocated Rs. 7,000 million to provide relief for drought victims this year. He said instructions have already been given to finalise the process of providing relief before the dawn of the New Year. According to statistics, 545,717 metric tonnes of paddy expected in the Maha season has been destroyed and 1.2 million people belonging to 320,461 families have been affected due to the ongoing drought.