News
Rs. 1300 million ADB funds credited to farmers’ accounts returned
By Ifham Nizam
The Department of Agrarian Development yesterday said Rs. 1,300 million credited to the farmers’ accounts had returned due to errors in account numbers.
Agrarian Development Commissioner General H.M.L.A. Abeyratne told the Agriculture Minister, and senior officials, at a discussion, that steps would be taken to credit all the money to the farmers’ accounts by the ends of next week.
With the help of the Asian Development Bank, the Department of Agrarian Development distributed Rs. 08 billion to 1.2 million farming families at the rate of Rs. 10,000 per hectare.
Before crediting the money to the farmers’ accounts, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Development informed the farmers to check whether their account numbers, given to the Agrarian Service Centres were correct, but some farmers did not do so.
As a result, Rs. 1300 million of the money credited to the farmers’ accounts returned to the Department of Agrarian Development. Out of the Rs. 8 billion, provided by the Asian Development Bank, to provide relief to the farmer families, Rs. 6.5 billion was credited to the farmers’ accounts.
Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that if the Ministry of Agriculture had asked the farmers to give the correct account numbers, or checked whether the account numbers were correct, the money would not have returned.
Following the conclusion of bilateral discussions between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, official-level talks between the delegations of Sri Lanka and India commenced this morning (05) at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.
Representing the Government of Sri Lanka were Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, Vijitha Herath; Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Anil Jayantha; Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake; Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, along with other senior officials.
The Indian delegation included Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and His Excellency Santosh Jha, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, along with several other senior officials of the Government of India.
Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, who arrived in Sri Lanka on the invitation of President Anura Kumara Disanayake on Friday [04] night, visited the Presidential Secretariat this morning (05).
The Indian Prime Minister was warmly welcomed by President Anura Kumara Disanayake upon his arrival at the Presidential Secretariat.
Prime Minister Modi is currently on a state visit to Sri Lanka, reaffirming the theme “Friendship of Centuries — Commitment to a Prosperous Future” which symbolises the longstanding ties between Sri Lanka and India. The Indian Premier is scheduled to remain in the country until tomorrow (06).
[PMD]
The official welcoming ceremony for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was held this morning (05) at the Independence Square in Colombo.
On arrival at the Independence Square the Indian Prime Minister was warmly welcomed by President Anura Kumara Disanayake.
Discussions between Sri Lankan and Indian delegations at the presidential secretariat
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Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi arrives at the presidential secretariat
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