|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 13 October 2002 |
 |
|
 |
News |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
430 grams rice daily per person : Japan grants free food dole for refugees by Don Asoka Wijewardena In response to the World Food Programme's appeal, the Japanese government has donated 280 metric tons of canned fish worth Rs. 104 million to the Sri Lankan government recently. The donation will be channelled through the UN World Food Programme and the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees for the benefit of more than 200,000 internally displaced persons and those affected in the war-torn areas of the North and East. This aid will be increased by another 4 million US dollars through a budget revision to be approved by the Executive Board of the WFP at the end of this month," said Prof. Jayalath Jayawardena, Minister of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees at the official ceremony held in that connection at his ministry. The Minister said that the donation was a welcome relief to those affected and it would also help the villages where they would be resettled with community infrastructure rehabilitation work through the WFP assisted schemes. Mr. Jeff Taft-Dick, Sri Lanka's Representative of the World Food Program, said that since 1992 the WFP had been granting food aid to affected families in Sri Lanka and, under its new plan, he assured more relief to internally displaced persons. According to the WFP's new plan, each person would receive 430 grams of rice, 50 grams of pulses, 20 grams of sugar, 20 grams of coconut oil, 5 grams of salt per day for a period of 6 months. The Japanese Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr. Seiichiro Otsuka said that the government of Japan was more than willing to respond positively to the WFP's appeal and granted a sum of 1.1 million US dollars (Rs. 104 million) for the purchase of canned fish for war-stricken people in the North and East. This food relief would immensely benefit internally displaced persons in Jaffna, Mannar, Mullativu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticaloa areas. The ambassador said that Japan fully backed the peace process initiated by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government with the LTTE and added that the commencement of peace talks in Thailand had laid a strong foundation for it. He said that Japan sincerely hoped that the peace talks would lead to a durable solution thereby ushering in a new era of permanent peace and prosperity to Sri Lanka. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
