Rs.31m for Api Wavamu propaganda

20 July 2011 04:15 pm Views - 3680

The government had spent as much as Rs. 31 million for the propaganda work of the ‘Api Wavamu Rata Nagamu’ during the last four years, Parliament was informed.

The government placed this information before the House in response to a question by a JVP MP.

The government had allocated Rs.415 million for the project in 2008 whereas Rs. 8 million had been spent for the propaganda campaign.  In 2009, Rs.300 million had been spent for the project and Rs.8.5 million for propaganda work.

In 2010, Rs.7.75 million had been spent for propaganda and in 2011, Rs. 10 million.

Raising a supplementary question, JVP parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that though the development of food production in the country was the prime objective of this project, the import volumes of food items such as chili, Kurakkan and big onions had increased during the period.

Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardane responded that the emphasis was placed particularly on paddy cultivation under this project, and it had been a success.

“We were able to be self-sufficient in paddy production. We also started cultivation of a lot of barren paddy lands,” he said. He said that the project would be implemented till 2013. (KBandYP)