'Village the centre of development'

Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development at a meeting held at Veerasingham Hall in Jaffna last week for granting small scale loans for self employment ventures under "Gemidiriya programme, said that developing the people through building villages was the road map of the President.

He said that the road map of the President for development of the country was to uplift the living standard of the low income earning families and through building of the villages islandwide. Whilst mega projects for the development of the country were in progress; electricity, roads, hospitals, schools and other public places deemed necessary for development of the villages would be launched, he added. He also said the providing with vocational training for self employment ventures and many other facilities including Bank credit ranging from Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 50,000 for small domestic industries and equipment and machinery for industries were on the pipeline for enhancing the living standard of the low income earners. State assistance for development of Domestic Industries would be a continuous affair, the Minister added.

Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Douglas Devananda urged the recipients of the credit facility to make use of it prudently and purposefully for enhancing their living standard. The Minister said that some politicians were on the move to disrupt this programme and mislead people.