by Raja Waidyasekara

Irrigation, Internal Security, Home Affairs and Disaster Management Minister, Chamal Rajapaksa unveiled plans to start a new pharmaceuticals factory in the Hambantota district to produce medicines locally.

In addition, a new facility to produce tyres will also be established in the district. Rubber is being grown in the Katuwana, Middeniya and Sooriyawewa areas of the region. However, instead of giving a boost to the local industry, the previous government was comfortable with merely importing rubber from Malaysia, the Minister told a meeting at Tissamaharama recently.

He said the proposed diversion of the Gin ganga and Nilwala ganga is on the cards as it will help farmers in a big way to cultivate their fields during both the Maha and Yala seasons.

“We need to encourage farmers to use carbonic fertilizer as far as possible”, Minister Rajapaksa stressed.

“It was during our tenure of government that we built an airport and a sea port in Hambantota. The previous regime failed to develop these two facilities to attract more business”, he further said.

The Minister said that a commercial aircraft pilot has an income of Rs. 500,000 monthly while an executive chef of a five-star hotel such as Shangri-la earns a monthly salary of Rs.150,000. There are more such jobs the youth of Hambantota and adjoining districts can easily fit into after undergoing training.

Continuing, he noted that the government has already restricted the import of 16 non-essential consumer commodities which can be produced locally. This gives an opportunity to local farmers to earn a substantial income by cultivating these crops.

The education sector is also being reformed on par with modern trends. An educated generation should be raised to take over the country’s future, he emphasized.

There is no fear psychosis in the country after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected to office, the Minister added, while however cautioning that certain politicians defeated by the people are trying to fuel flames of racism.