WEATHER PATTERNS IMPROVING: MET. DEPT.
There could be a temporary easing of the dry conditions that had prevailed in the country helped by a few showers that had fallen recently in the coming days, the Department of Meteorology said yesterday.
However the department warned that the change in weather patterns could just be temporary with showers being experienced particularly in Western, North Western, Sabaragamuwa and Central Provinces. The situation could extend to other areas as well, the department further said.
Showers were experienced between 11 am and 3 pm in Kandy District while residents of Matale had also said that showers had been experienced there
Showers were experienced between 11 am and 3 pm in Kandy District while residents of Matale had also said that showers had been experienced there accompanied by strong winds.
Meanwhile the Ministry of Agrarian Services and Wildlife said that it was in the process of collecting data on the damage caused by the pre- vailing drought in order to provide compensation to the farmers. A spokesman for the ministry said that compensation would be provided as soon as proper data had been collected. The ministry had also started distributing equipment needed to dig irrigation wells. Accordingly, it had been decided to encourage digging irrigation wells as an alternate source of water. In addition it had also been decided to remove mud from the filled up tanks and to clean them up.
According to the ministry 370 acres of paddy land in Vavuniya, 250 acres in Trincomalee, 235 in Anuradhapura, and 250 acres in Pollonnaruwa had been destroyed as a result of the drought that had prevailed in those areas. An irrigation officer in the Kurunegala District said that all the tanks in the area except for the Rajangana Tank had dried up.
Frontline Socialist Party Political Affairs Committee member S. K. Subasinghe, who was a farmer by profession, said that the paddy cultivation in Giritale, Kavudulla, and Minneriya areas were being destroyed as a result of the drought.