Thai Pongal in the NE: Farmers pray for rain

Yesterday’s “Thai Pongal” festival was celebrated on a low key by the farming communities in the north and east due to the prevailing drought condition. Many acres of paddyland have been destroyed in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

Iranamadhu farmers' federation president Muthu down due to the drought and coal power and fuel-powered plants will be used instead.

He claimed that the ministry is promoting self-power generation using solar power.

The Ceylon Electricty Board has been told to pay Rs 36 per kilowatt of power from suppliers, he said. “We are buying 60 megawatts of power from private suppliers to maintain uninterrupted power during the drought.''

Disaster Management Minister, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, told a news conferenceon Friday, that so far, 13 districts have been badly affected, namely, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Hambantota, Monaragala, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Jaffna, Batticaloa, and Mulativu. “This drought will prevail for the next three months due to the irregular rainfall we received last year,” he said, adding that measures are being taken.

“1,754 water tanks have been requested from our ministry. We plan to distribute them shortly. As a food shortage is possible, the Government is importing 250,000 metric tonnes of rice. This is unusual weather we have not seen for 30 to 40 years. The Sivamohan told the Sunday Times that many farmers were engaged in special religious prayers seeking rain to save their remaining crops. Government is taking every step to face this from the very beginning unlike in the past when Governments reacted when disasters worsened.”

K H S Premalal, the Director General of the Department of Meteorology, said Sri Lanka has not received the expected rainfall in October and December last year. “The northwest monsoon also reduced unexpectedly at the end of May last year. As a whole there was a 50 percent reduction in rainfall last year.”