Two female Development Officers have been arrested by the Aranayake Police for allegedly hoarding a stock of relief supplies intended for families affected by Cyclone Ditwah in the Aranayake Divisional Secretariat Division, at their residences.

Police stated that one of the arrested officers had also been serving as the storekeeper of the Aranayake Divisional Secretariat.

The relief items had been provided by the government and several other institutions for distribution among families affected by the disaster.

Following information received by Kegalle Additional District Secretary Dilith Nishantha, an investigation was launched under the supervision of Kegalle District Secretary Jagath M. Herath. 

During a joint investigation carried out by officers from the District Secretariat together with the Aranayake Police, the relief supplies were discovered hidden inside the officers’ residences.

Accordingly, the two female officers have been taken into custody by the police.

Further investigations are being conducted under the personal supervision of Senior Superintendent of Police of Kegalle, while authorities have also decided to assess the value of the seized relief goods.

A three-month memorial almsgiving ceremony was held today (27) at Pamunupura, Batamulla, in remembrance of those who lost their lives due to the landslide that affected over five kilometres in Nelummala village, Minipe Divisional Secretariat Division in the Kandy District. 

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake also participated in the event, according to the President’s Media Division (PMD).

The landslide, triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, claimed the lives of 31 individuals from 13 families in Nelummala village.

The almsgiving was conducted in honour of all those who perished in the disaster, with the participation of 70 members of the Maha Sangha. In parallel, a Bodhi Pooja and a Pirith chanting ceremony had been organised yesterday (26) evening.

During today’s ceremony, the President joined in offering alms to the Maha Sangha, the PMD said. 

The President also engaged in a brief conversation with the relatives of the victims and expressed his deepest condolences.

The Anunayake of the Asgiri Chapter of the Siyam Maha Nikaya, Venerable Narampanawa Ananda Anunayake Thero, together with members of the Maha Sangha representing the three Nikayas, Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi, public representatives of the area, Kandy District Secretary Indika Udawatta, along with government officials and residents of the area, were present at the occasion.

 

The Grama Niladhari Trade Union Alliance has decided to withdraw from the process of disbursing the Rs. 5 million government grant allocated for residential properties that were partially damaged as a result of cyclone Ditwah.

Accordingly, the trade union action will take effect from today (19), the Alliance noted.

The Co-Chairman of the Alliance, Nandana Ranasinghe stated that the decision was taken due to deficiencies identified in the relevant circular governing the payment procedure.

He further emphasized that the government should take appropriate measures to ensure that the disbursement process is carried out in a structured and transparent manner.

The government had previously decided to provide a financial assistance of Rs. 5 million to households that were damaged partially due to cyclone Ditwah.

However, citing major shortcomings in the circular issued in this regard, the Association of Divisional Secretaries and Assistant Divisional Secretaries, along with the Association of Government Accountants, withdrew from the payment process.

Subsequently, the responsibility for disbursing the grant was assigned to the Grama Niladhari officers.

The Trade Union Alliance has now announced that it will also refrain from participating in the disbursement process with effect from today.

Furthermore, the Alliance has alleged that adequate compensation is not provided to its members for their involvement in disaster-related duties.

The government has decided to extend the pension payment period for farmers and fishermen until January 31 considering the impact caused by the cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka.

In an official statement, the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board announced that farmers can now collect their December pension payments from relevant Post Offices or Sub-Post Offices on any working day throughout the month of January.

Under normal circumstances, pensions for farmers are disbursed between the 9th and 15th of each month.

The extension has been granted in consideration of the transportation difficulties faced by pensioners due to damage to access roads leading to post offices caused by the cyclone.

At present, 178,753 farmers and 6,312 fishermen receive pension benefits.

The Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board further noted that a total of Rs. 413 million has been allocated for the payment of pensions for the month of December.

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the Ministry of Education, together with UNICEF, will take necessary steps to renovate schools that can be restored quickly and to relocate schools located in high-risk areas to safer locations, following an assessment of schools affected by Cyclone Ditwah.

The Prime Minister made these remarks after inspecting the Meegahakiula National School in the Badulla District, which was damaged by Cyclone Ditwah, on December 24, according to the Prime Minister’s Media Division.

The Prime Minister also inspected the preschool that had been operating at the Ketawatta Yodha Ulpatha Community Hall, which was completely damaged after a tree fell due to strong winds. 

She instructed officials to take steps to restart the preschool at a safe location. Drawing attention to the proper payment of allowances provided to preschool teachers, the Prime Minister emphasized that authorities should identify preschools that can no longer operate due to damage following the disaster situation and ensure that allowances are paid to the teachers of those preschools as well.

Subsequently, she inspected the Passara Yuri Tamil Primary School, which sustained severe damage due to a landslide, the statement said.

The visit was attended by Diyathalawa Dheerananda Thero, Uva Province Governor Kapila Jayasekara, Member of Parliament Samantha Vidyarathna, Provincial Chief Secretary Anusha Gokula, Principal of Meegahakiwula National School H.W.K.A. Padmakumara, Principal of Passara Yuri Tamil Primary School K. Indumathi, along with state officials, teachers, parents, and others.

A group of the world’s top economists including the Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz have called for Sri Lanka’s debt payments to be suspended as it tackles the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.

More than 600 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed across the island, in what Sri Lanka’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, called the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history”.

The country’s $9bn (£6.8bn) national debt was restructured last year, after lengthy negotiations with creditors after the government defaulted on repayments in 2022. But development campaigners warned at the time that the burden on Sri Lankan taxpayers remained unsustainable.

Before the cyclone hit, annual repayments were expected to total 25% of government revenues – a high level by international and historical standards.

In a statement, the group of 120 global experts called for fresh debt restructuring to restore the country’s repayments to a manageable level, given the scale of environmental destruction.

Alongside Stiglitz, the signatories include Jayati Ghosh, a renowned Indian development economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the US, the inequality expert Thomas Piketty, the former Argentinian economy minister Martín Guzmán, and Kate Raworth, the author of Doughnut Economics, a widely read book about capitalism and the environment.

“Sri Lanka is now confronting a severe economic shock triggered by the recent cyclone, extensive flooding and landslides, which has inflicted extensive damage to infrastructure, livelihoods, and key sectors of the economy,” they said.

“This environmental emergency is poised to absorb – and potentially exceed – the extremely limited fiscal space created by the current debt restructuring package. Additional external debt is already being taken on from the [International Monetary Fund (IMF)], and more lending to deal with the impacts of the disaster is likely.”

They called for the “immediate suspension of Sri Lanka’s external sovereign debt payments, and a new restructuring that restores debt sustainability under the new circumstances”.

Research by the campaign group Debt Justice found that after the 2024 debt restructuring deal, which involved some investors accepting a “haircut” on expected repayments, private sector creditors were still on course to make 40% more profit lending to Sri Lanka than to the US government.

Since the cyclone hit last month, the Sri Lankan government has asked for a $200m emergency loan from the (IMF to help it through the immediate crisis, but disbursements under this “rapid financing instrument” are usually expected to be repaid within three to five years.

Scientists at World Weather Attribution, a coalition of climate experts, found that global heating was likely to have exacerbated the severity of Sri Lanka’s flooding, as well as that of other Asian countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia, that have also been badly affected in recent weeks.

A UK government spokesperson said it recognised the devastating impacts of Cyclone Ditwah on the people of Sri Lanka.

“This is why we are committed to supporting Sri Lanka’s recovery through humanitarian assistance and international coordination. We have already provided £1m of humanitarian support via the Red Cross, UN partners and civil society organisations to deliver emergency supplies and life-saving care.”

Source: The Guardian 

–Agencies