X-Press Pearl disaster Poor coordination leaves compensation process in disarray

By Ajith Siriwardana  

Providing compensation to the victims of theX-Press Pearl disaster is in disarray due to the lack of proper coordination between the state agencies involved in the process of providing compensation, a Parliamentary Committee revealed.  

It was revealed at the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development that poor coordination between the Marine Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA), the Ministry of Fisheries and the Attorney General’s Department had created several issues in providing compensation to the fishermen.  

The Committee Chair MP Ajith Mannapperuma instructed the Attorney General’s Department, the Ministry of Fisheries, the MEPA and the members of the expert committee appointed by MEPA to jointly prepare a programme and submit a related report to the Committee.  

The MEPA officials said that although they had asked the Attorney General’s Department in a letter about the activities of the expert committee appointed by MEPA and its future needs, they had not received a proper reply.   

However, the officials said that they had received information from the Ministry of Justice that an international, independent expert committee would be appointed to continue the assessment of the damages.   

The MEPA officials said, as a result, the MEPA expert committee has not made a firm decision on how to proceed further and they pointed out that it is a problem that their institution is not aware of the work being carried out in this regard by the Attorney General’s Department.  

It was revealed in the committee that since the payments related to the research activities carried out by the expert committee appointed by MEPA have not been made, the Ministry has been informed to submit a cabinet paper to look into the ability to make payments. It was also disclosed that no appointments have been made to the expert committee for the year 2023.