Sri Lanka’s Cabinet Minister on Monday (7) granted approval to release the required amount of water from the Samanala Wewa for agricultural purposes.
State Minister of Power and Energy D. V. Chanaka said that the decision was reached subject to finding alternative solutions for the national power requirement.
He said that the relevant authorities have been informed to release water for agricultural purposes, as per the cabinet decision.
However, just a week ago, the Sri Lankan cabinet decided to prioritize the country’s electricity requirement over the agriculture sector, and turned down proposals to release water from the Samanala Wewa to the Udawalawa Reservoir to that rice farmers can nurture their fields.
The Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that following a decision made by the Ceylon Electricity Board to not release water from the Samanala Wewa to the Udawalawa Reservoir, a decision that was also approved by the cabinet, 40% of the rice fields in the Ratnapura, Hambantota, and Moneragala districts were destroyed due to the shortage of water.
Source – NewsFirst.lk
