President Maithripala Sirisena instructed the relevant authorities to expeditiously complete the renovation works of 2400 irrigation tanks in the Dry Zone.
Already, the necessary steps have been taken in this regard and the President instructed to swiftly commence the renovation works of the small irrigation tanks to facilitate agricultural activities of the farmers without any hindrance during the adverse weather conditions.
President Sirisena has given these instructions addressing the Special Coordination Committee Meeting of the Polonnaruwa district at the Thamankaduwa Divisional Secretariat, today (26).
During the meeting, it was discussed in detail regarding the progress of the projects being carried out in the Polonnaruwa district as well as regarding the future plans for the district.
The special attention of the President was drawn to the construction of the Kidney Disease Hospital, Economic Center and Trilingual school.
A special attention was also paid to the actions taken for the development of infrastructure facilities including the education, health, roads and irrigation in the district.
The President further instructed the officials to prepare development plans to identify the development needs of the people of the respective areas and emphasized that this must be done without wasting the public funds.
The President pointed out the importance of re-planning of programmes implemented to uplift the livelihoods of the people in the district, according to the needs of the public with a clear criteria.
A special attention was paid to the problems of the farmers as well as the agricultural development in the district. The President apprised the officials regarding the issues related to the agricultural uses of water, and pointed out the importance of providing information to the farmers through the Farmers Organizations about the remaining water levels of the reservoirs and irrigation tanks, to plan their agricultural strategies according to the water levels.
Meanwhile, a programme was held to distribute Rs.29 million value equipment among 636 beneficiaries in the Welikanda and Dimbulagala Divisional Secretariat divisions, to uplift their livelihoods at the premises of the Welikanda Divisional Secretariat.
The equipment was provided under the provisions for the year 2017 and equipment worth Rs. 295 million will be provided to the people under the provisions for the year 2018.
Peoples representatives, including former Provincial Councilor N.A.Samantha, District Secretary of the Polonnaruwa Ranjith Ariyarathna, Welikanda District Secretary Harsha C Bandara and other officials participated in this event.
The President, on his way after participating in this event, visited a fruit juice stall in the Welikanda town, which is started under the sponsorship of the livelihood development programme and the President also engaged in a cordial discussion with the owner of the juice stall.