The Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera stated that under the project to reduce the adverse effects of small-scale agricultural projects under the Ministry of Agriculture and Plantation Industries, a program to restore 100 tanks in the Malwathu Oya basin has been started.
A discussion on this program was held yesterday (12) at the Ministry of Agriculture and it was attended by the Minister of Agriculture and Plantation Industries Mr.Mahinda Amaraweera, Member of Parliament Mr.Duminda Dissanayake, Secretary of the Ministry Mr. Janaka Dharmakeerthi and others.
A number of projects have been started to improve the living standards of the farmers engaged in agricultural activities in the difficult areas of the districts like Kurunegala, Puttalam, Anuradhapura, Matale and Vavuniya by the Small Scale Agricultural Projects Mitigation Project which is a foreign funded project.
Under it, priority has been given to the restoration of the well-known cascade system.
Thus, all the tanks belonging to the cascade systems located in Mee Oya, Deduru Oya and Malwathu Oya basins will be renovated.
100 tanks belonging to 20 cascade systems in Anuradhapura, Vavuniya and Mannar districts belonging to Malwathu Oya basin will be redeveloped under this. Accordingly, 37 tanks in Anuradhapura, 32 tanks in Vavuniya, and 31 tanks in Mannar have been selected and the work has been started by now, said Mr. Gayan Mallavatissa, director of the project to reduce adverse effects on small-scale agricultural projects.
Under this scheme, 15.5 rupees will be allocated for the renovation of one tank and 1.4 km road system will be modernized under each tank. Thus, 573 million rupees will be spent in Anuradhapura district, 496 million rupees in each district in Vavuniya and Mannar districts for the reconstruction of cascade system.
This step is taken by the project to reduce the adverse effects of these small-scale agricultural projects operating in the zone of Deduru Oya, Mee Oya and Malwathu Oya, where most of the cascade systems in the country are located, which have been designated not only as a national heritage of this country but also as a world heritage by UNESCO. Minister Mahinda Amaraweera mentioned that it has been taken.
The minister also advised the officials of the project to speed up the renovation activities.
The post Steps are being taken to restore 20 cascade systems including 100 tanks in the Malwathuoya basin appeared first on DailyNews.