Dried up tanks to be desilted

Ridma DISSANAYAKE

The government has taken urgent steps to desilt tanks which have dried up and have them ready to be filled to capacity when the rains arrive, said Health Minister Maitripala Sirisena.

The minister was addressing a farmers meeting in the Polonnaruwa district recently, where he distributed water pumps and other farming equipment. The North Central Province Agriculture Ministry funded this project.

Minister Sirisena said the government will implement a comprehensive programme to assist farmers affected by the drought.

He said all large scale reservoirs and tanks in the Polonnaruwa district have dried up and paddy fields destroyed as a result of the drought.

Minister Sirisena said he would visit all Mahaweli Zones in the next two weeks to assess the damage caused to the agriculture sector by the drought.