Fisheries, agricultural and tourism hubs in NWP in the near future

By P. Krishnaswamy

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock and Livestock Development, Irrigation and Agrarian Services of the North-Western Provincial Council Sanath Nishantha Perera, an up and coming politician who polled the highest number of preferential votes in the Puttalam district in the September 21, 2013 PC polls, talked to the Sunday Observer immediately after taking Oaths as PC Minister. He was Minister in the previous PC as well and is of the strong view that the PC is a good instrument and has enough powers to do development work in the province which would contribute to the social and economic welfare of the people. Almost 95 percent of the road network, the educational institutions, health services, transport and many more in the provinces come under the purview of the PCs, he said.

During his previous tenure as Minister he had been able to achieve much towards the development of the Puttalam district and, in recognition of it, he received highest preferential votes in the district, he said. The North-western PC, under the leadership of Chief Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera, would implement plans and programs to develop the province as a hub of fisheries, agricultural and tourism. This, in turn, would contribute to improving the economic and living conditions of the common people, he said.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: Fishermen encountered problems during the fuel price hike at the beginning of last year and there were also some unfortunate incidents in Chilaw. What steps have been taken by the PC to provide relief to the fishermen and to promote their socio-economic and educational standards?

A: In the Puttalam district we have the longest coastal sea extending 247 km and the district plays an important role towards contributing to the national requirement of fish. Sea fishing, inland freshwater fishing, brackish water fishing and ornamental fish--rearing are the main activities in relation to fisheries in the district. With regard to the incident at Chilaw during a fishermen's protest against fuel price hike, President Mahinda Rajapaksa granted a monthly subsidy of Rs. 9,300/- to each fisherman, after holding discussions. The fishermen are getting it and they have no problem over the fuel price hike. But it has come to our notice that some of the fishermen simply sell the fuel card to businessmen and spend the money without going to the sea.

The whole idea of providing relief to the fishermen is to give them an incentive and encourage them to go to the sea so that fish productivity would increase. Some plans have already been implemented by the PC and some are in the pipeline for improving their quality of life. We also have plans to transform them as an educated community. They are lagging behind much compared to fishermen in Japan, Thailand and some other countries i the region. Fishermen of the Western countries such as Norway and Denmark are much advanced educationally and technologically. But our fishermen think that education is not necessary for the fisherman. Their younger generation should have a sound education to make use of the technological and other modern facilities.

Central Government Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Dr. Rajitha Senaratne has immensely contributed towards modernising the fisheries industry and providing maximum facilities to the fisher people. Our PC is also doing everything necessary to make the fishermen understand the need for good education and technological knowledge. We will do everything possible within our jurisdiction to provide education and training to their younger generation. We want to change their thought pattern. We want to ensure that the younger generation of the fishermen receive education at least up to GCE(AL) or GCE(OL). Also we have started a new program that was formulated and proposed by me under which our provincial fisheries ministry and the central Foreign Employment Ministry would work jointly.

We want to send a certain number of the young fishermen to the ‘Cinec’ Maritime Campus (Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College of Fisheries) in Malabe to follow a course on fisheries and then send them to Korea for employment. This will help to bring home the latest technologies and knowledge on the fisheries industry. We want send about 500 of them in the first batch. The Western PC is already doing it and the Southern PC has also started it.

Q: A major part of the agricultural lands in the Puttalam district comes under the dry zone and farmers have faced problems in irrigating their paddy lands and other agricultural lands. Do you have plans to increase agricultural productivity by extending irrigation facilities under the Deduru Oya Reservoir scheme?

A: In terms of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ‘Mahinda Chintana’ concept and under his personal initiative, the Deduru Oya Reservoir and Irrigation project was started and is now nearing completion. The district of Kurunegala will be benefited most. The benefits to the Puttalam district will be minimal. Water from the reservoir is projected to reach the Inginimitiya reservoir to feed minor tanks in Tabbowa and Karawalagaswewa to increase irrigation facilities to the agricultural lands in those areas. When I was minister of Fisheries during my past tenure, I devised a plan to get water from the Deduru Oya project to the Mundalama lagoon so that the fertility of the soil, fishing and agricultural productivity in the areas will increase. In fact, government officers and I walked along the banks of lagoons and canals on a fact finding mission. We found that all small irrigation tanks are fed by water coming from the Maduwakkulama spillway which is comparatively a small percentage. There are some 27 tanks being fed in that way. Project Director Sunil Perera agreed that it will be possible to provide water from the Deduru Oya project to feed the small tanks. Consequently the feasibility report was approved by the relevant authorities. Now we anticipate that within two years this project will materialise bringing benefits to farmers and villagers in the Mundalama, Pallama, Mahakubukkadawala and Arachchikattuwa Divisional Secretary areas. When the country came under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa the number of government employees was only about 500,000 but today the number has increased to 1.4 million. But, in spite of it, there is a large number of youth who are unemployed and seek state sector employment. So we think the best alternative is to take them into the agricultural, fisheries and industrial sectors.

Utilising modern technology and education, they should become a business community of farmers. That is my objective and I fervently believe that this can be accomplished.

Q: The coconut too faced faced a problem. Coconut trees in several thousands of acres were destroyed due to a disease. Can you tell us of the PC's plans for developing the industry?

A: The biggest devastation we encountered in our region was the loss of several thousands of coconut trees to the disease. The North-western province is in the main hub of the coconut triangle. During the past drought too a large number of trees died. Minister of Coconut Development Jagath Pushpakumara started a program to provide relief to the persons who had lost coconut trees. He has also started a program to to promote coconut re-planting and to start planting in lands that have not been utilised for the purpose. Although the paddy farmers are getting fertiliser subsidy the coconut farmers are not getting it. The paddy farmer is getting bag of fertiliser worth Rs.5,000 at a subsidised price of Rs.350. The President has now decided to extend similar subsidy facilities to the coconut farmers as well.

Q: There have been proposals for developing several places in the Puttalam district such as: Kalpitiya and other offshore islands, as tourist destinations. What role will the PC play?

A: The subject of tourism comes under the purview of our Chief Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera. However, our policy is to develop the tourist industry while protecting the interests of the fisheries industry and the fisher people. We do not want tourist revenue at the expense of the poor fisher people. We are thinking of promoting eco-tourism whereby we will preserve the prevailing atmosphere where the fishermen face no restrictions in going to the sea. Tourists like to go fishing. So we can provide the necessary fishing gear, support and assistance for them to go fishing. We want to take advantage of the large tourist flow to promote tourism in our region in such a way that the fishermen are not affected but, instead, they are economically benefited. In fact we are working on a goal. We want to develop a different kind of tourism utilising the rich marine resources that we possess in our region. In some parts of the world they are showing one or two trained dolphins as a tourist attraction. But in the sea off Kalpitiya, shoals of dolphins in their thousands can be sighted every day from morning till the afternoon. They can be seen jumping and playing . The fishermen can take tourists in their boats to see the dolphins. I think even people in our country do not know about it. We are planning to derive maximum benefits out of it. We want to market it to the tourists . The fishermen would need a licence and we are going issue such licences. We have beautiful coral reefs, many offshore islands and an exotic atmosphere. We want to train the fishermen to benefit through tourism while also doing their traditional profession.

Q: There are many historically important religious shrines in the Puttalam district, such as the St. Anne’s Church at Talawila and the Munneswaram Hindu temple in Chilaw. Do you have any plans to promote religious tourism?

A: For promoting tourist arrivals to these important places of religious worship, we have to provide the best infrastructure facilities, including road networks. The St. Anne’s Church is a very important and popular church in the region. So to increase tourist arrivals to the church we have to provide a better road network, hotels and other facilities. A considerable extent of roads have already been developed under programs jointly implemented by the North-western PC and the Ministry of Economic Development. We are expecting to do much more for providing facilities to religious tourists.

When I was Minister of the last PC, the road development portfolio was under my purview. Considering the problem encountered by pilgrims and tourists to the temple, I requested the Ministry of Road Development to construct a byroad behind the temple along the paddy fields so that the vehicular traffic along the main road will be reduced. I think we will receive funds for developing such a road. We believe that by introducing such developments to these important religious shrines, the arrival of foreign tourists to them will increase considerably.

Q: Do you have future plans to develop or upgrade the base hospitals in Kurunegala, Chilaw and Puttalam for providing a better service to the people?

A: The two main hospitals - the base hospitals in Kurunegala and Chilaw - have been handed over for the direct administration of the central government. Everything needed for the development of these two hospitals are being done by the central government. The PC did not have enough funds to handle them. The human and physical resources are continuing to be provided to these two hospitals. But I have to mention here that whatever improvements we may introduce to the hospitals - equipments, facilities and more buildings - all these will be useless unless the medical personnel treated the patients humanely and considerately. When such a situation is not present, all our development works will be of no use. So we are also planning to introduce programs and guidelines for changing the attitude of the personnel who are in charge of the patients.

Other than the two hospitals that I mentioned all other hospitals are under the administration of the PC. 95 percent of the health services are under the PC and similarly ninety five percent of the educational institutions are also under the PC. More than 95 percent of the road networks and their development also come under the purview of the PC. So there is no doubt that a great extent of work for the province can be performed by the PC. It is only the inactive politicians who try find flaws in the PC system. For those who want to work for the people of the province, the PC is a good instrument. As a PC Minister who got the highest preferential votes in the Puttalam district, I can say that it was because I worked for the development of the region and the welfare of the people. I got 63,000 preferential votes and this is the highest number even compared to preferential votes polled by PC candidates in the Puttalam district, in the previous parliamentary and PC polls.