By Saman Indrajith

SJB and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday called on the government to amend a circular on the provision of relief to those affected by disasters and inclement weather as the amount of money given was not sufficient.

Making a special statement in Parliament, Premadasa said that amounts allocated according to the current circular were not sufficient for those affected by floods and other natural disasters.

“This circular was issued on May 16, 2022 by the Ministry of Disaster Management and relief is currently being provided as per it. We have been told that Rs. 1 million has been sent to the Divisional Secretariats to provide relief. This is not enough. As per the circular Rs. 450 is allocated for cooked food per person per day. If it is dry ration Rs. 1,350 is allocated per person per week.

These amounts are not realistic. The circular allocates for seven days Rs. 1,800 per family of two, Rs. 2,100 per family of three, Rs, 2,400 per family of four and Rs, 2,700 per family of five. When these amounts are divided among the number of persons, a person in a family of two gets Rs. 900, a person, a family of three gets Rs. 700, a person, a family of four gets Rs. 600, while a person in a family of five gets Rs. 540. How could a person live a week on Rs 900? Not even a single meal could be afforded by the allocation stipulated per day. As such I call on the government to take immediate action to amend this circular and go for upward revision immediately and provide assistance to the victims,” Premadasa said.

This method has to be changed and the amounts must be increased immediately. Had there been a proper mechanism devised to provide relief to people, the amounts allotted for the purpose should have been increased annually, Premadasa said.

He also called on the government to explain to Parliament as to how and why it could not fix a Doppler radar system to forecast climatic and weather conditions. It has been stated by the Ministry of Defence that it needed at least two more months to affix a Doppler radar system anew. Soon after the tsunami in 2004, this country received a Doppler radar system as a donation. After that it was said to be fixed on a tower at Gongala mountain in Deniyaya. This task of building the tower was handed over to the CECB (Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau). This has not been set up yet. We need to know why the Doppler radar that we got free as a donation is not used and why it is not being installed,” Premadasa said.