All tanks in the island will be renovated to provide water for farmers in the Yala and Maha seasons, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.
He was addressing the gathering at the inauguration of the Wew Dahasak, Gam Dahasak rural development programme at Kailawelpotwa in Agunakolapelessa.
The Minister said the successive regimes never renovated tanks. The programme implemented in Agunakolapelessa was the 300 under Wew Dahask, Gam Dahasak programme.
He said that many tanks remain overgrown with aquatic plants and filled up to the brim with mud and even thunder showers cannot fill them. He said farmers never ask for anything else but water. “It is our bounden duty to address the issue,” he said.
The Minister said the Joint Opposition was fighting for the premiership.
“Now they are trying their best to get the Post of Opposition Leader. They pledged that they will topple the Yahapalana regime after a couple of poya days but still they have not done it since they cannot defeat farsighted policies of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe,” the Minister said.