Government spends Rs. 14,000 per acre as fertilizer subsidy

Sri Lanka government spends Rs. 14,000 for the fertilizer subsidy at a time when the farmers spend Rs. 1,000 for cultivation of one acres of paddy land.  The ever grateful farmers of the North Central province expressed their gratitude to the government without getting swayed by the propaganda of the UNP and the JVP in the provincial council elections in which they attempted to politicize the elections and to fool the farmers by projecting that the drought are taking place due to the folly of the government.

This was stated by the Minister of Health and the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party at a media conference held at the Mahaweli Centre yesterday.

The Minister said that the Provincial Council elections were a referendum in which the people have acknowledged the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and have accepted that the government is on the right path.

He said that it has been widely accepted that the elections were held in a free and fair manner and the people have rejected both the UNP and the JVP by reducing their percentage of votes and the number of seats compared to the last provincial council election.

The Minister said that the UNP accepted the defeat in the elections even before the provincial councils were dissolved and went to Courts to obtain a Court Order to prevent the holding of elections, as they were unable to face the elections.  He said that neither the UNP nor the JVP presented concrete plans to rule the provinces but only indulged in vilification of the people and spreading false propaganda.

Minister Sirisena said that earlier Ranilta Bae (Ranil cannot do)  was accepted by the people as a fact and this election has proved that Raniltath Bae and Sajithtath Bae (Ranil cannot do and Sajith also cannot do), and the UNP has now to find some credible person  who can run the party.

He said that the bankruptcy of the UNP is clearly evident with their failure to win a single seat in the election, although they were a powerful party in the East several years ago and the UNP Ministers like Devanayagam, A.R.M.Mansoor and several others were elected from the Eastern province in the past.

The Minister also pointed out that during the governments of J.R.Jayawardene, R.Premadasa and Ranil Wickremasinghe farmers held demonstrations and demanded the government to solve their problems but all these governments totally and disrespectfully ignored their demands and were unable to pay back their cultivation loans, unable to market their produce at reasonable prices and unable to redeem their pawned jewellery they resorted to commit suicide in their hundreds.  Contrary to this when the farmers in Polonnaruwa met President Mahinda Rajapaksa and told the gravity of the problems being faced by them due to the drought situation the President took immediate action to solve their problems by issuing instructions to banks to suspend recovery of loan instalments, charging interest for loans, and suspend auctioning and charging of interest for jewellery mortgaged by the farmers in the drought affected areas.  He said that the President’s popularity has increased from election to election and this is not a phenomenon that can be seen in any part of the world. (niz)