Provincial Councils and Local Government Affairs State Minister Roshan Ranasinghe said that his Ministry would reimburse the cost incurred by local government bodies in cremating the persons who died from COVID-19.

Speaking at a meeting held at the Ministry, the minister said that 2,417 cremations of COVID-19 victims had been carried out till Aug 31 by 69 local government bodies and a sum of Rs 5,000 would be paid for each cremation to those local authorities. Accordingly a sum of Rs 12,085,000 would be paid in the first phase to the 69 local government bodies that carried out cremations, the Minister said.

As at Aug 31, 488 cremations had been carried out by the local government bodies in the Sabaragamuwa province, 391 by those in the Wayamba Province, 260 in the Central Province, 171 in the Uva Province, 537 in the Southern Province, 100 in the North Central Province, 399 in the Western Province and 71 in the Easter Province, Secretary to the Ministry Bandula Boralessa said.

Among those present at the meeting were additional secretary (Development) Maheshika Kodippili, Additional Secretary M.M. Naimudeen, Private Secretary to the Minister Dinusha Ranasinghe and Chief Financial Officer Pramitha Wijesinghe.