Millions saved with tie-up two State fertilizer entities:
273 received compensation ranging from Rs.900,000 to Rs. 8.9 Mn:
The Agriculture Ministry said the government has been able to save millions of rupees by merging the two companies, which previously had two chairmen, two boards of directors and separate staff.
A ceremony was held at Water’s Edge Hotel on Thursday under the patronage of Agriculture and Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to mark this occasion.
State Ministers D.B.Herath, Kader Masthan, Mohan Priyadarshana Silva, Ministry Secretary Janaka Dharmakeerthi and State Fertilizer Company Chairman Dr.Jagath Perera were present.
Currently, there are a large number of institutions dealing with the same subject under the ministry in our country. Because of this, the government has had to spend a lot of money on such institutions. Taking this situation into consideration, President Ranil Wickremesinghe had instructed the Cabinet to start a process of merging institutions belonging to the same scope. Agriculture and Plantation Industry Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that the two government-owned fertilizer companies were merged into one entity today. “Out of 400 former employees of these two companies, 273 retired voluntarily.We gave them the highest compensation ever given to government employees.
They received a huge compensation ranging from Rs.900,000 to Rs.8.9 million depending on the length of service and position,”he said.
He added that President Ranil Wickremesinghe strengthened the fertilizer programme.Due to the 2021 fertilizer crisis, farmers took to the streets and protested. But because we have taken steps to provide chemical fertilizers again, we have now become a self-sufficient country in rice,” he said.
“If it was not for the steps taken by Ranil Wickramasinghe to solve the fertilizer crisis, the price of a kilo of rice in this country would have increased by more than 500 rupees. But from the year 2023, the people of our country will consume rice grown in our own country. In the years 2023 and 2024, we did not import a single grain of rice.
State Fertilizer Chairman Dr.Jagath Perera said they are currently producing 30 types of mixed fertilizers for different crops.
Special fertilizers are produced for tea, cinnamon, rubber and coconut. We have taken steps to reduce the prices of all these fertilizers to a greater extent than the prevailing prices in the market.
