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Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, accompanied by a team of Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs visited a number of villages in the Moneragala district yesterday to ascertain the farmers' grievances and provide them a host of general facilities.

The Premier met the people of the Madulla, Dambagalla and Ethimale villages and discussed their problems. He also addressed several farmers' meetings expressed optimism that due to the MoU between the Government and the LTTE, all Districts in the entire country could be developed in the near future.

He said that the task ahead is to develop every region of the country to alleviate poverty and that by now a large number of development projects costing Rs.150 million have been mooted to improve infrastructure facilities in rural areas by providing them roads, hydro electricity, sanitary facilities and amenities relating to tourism.

"The ongoing truce has enabled us to control the massive defence expenditure, thereby saving more funds to be utilized for development activities in areas like the Moneragala District. If we go back to a war, development activities will have to be abandoned. Therefore, we must protect the peace process and move towards a political solution, he said.The Premier said that the MPs of Moneragala District had to surmount many problems in the recent past to develop plantation industries and that he was happy to see the Plantation Industries Ministry initiating several new projects in the coconut and rubber sector.

"We have to improve the income of the young men and women of this area. Roads and the electricity supply are neglected. They were ignored due to the war. We have to improve them. There are children, after 12 to 13 years of study and after passing "A" level or "O" level who have to be provided with a source of income. We can solve these problems only if we have a steady economy. War weakens our economy. It brings no stability. We waged a war that did not end in 20 years. We must find a political solution to this problem by uniting to protect democracy and territorial integrity of our country.

Please cooperate with our MPs, Ministers and Deputy Ministers to achieve this end. Returning to war means forgetting Madulla. In the absence of war, we can move in any part of the country. We can achieve economic progress in the North, in the East, in the West, in the Central and in the North West, only when there is no war", the Prime Minister said.

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