The Hon. (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna
Hon. Rohini Kumari Wijerathna warned that the disaster had caused 474 deaths and said the Government would bear responsibility for further loss of life or damage if adequate preventive action was not taken. Citing NBRO risk reports for Matale, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Kegalle, she called for advance preparedness, a ten-year Central Highlands Conservation and Development Programme overseen by experts to manage river outflows and reduce flooding, and an all-party, expert-led national disaster management plan with relief for affected people.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 I conclude, Hon. Speaker.
¶ 02 This disaster has already claimed 474 lives. If proper steps are not taken now, the Government must be responsible for any future loss of life and damage.
¶ 03 Matale, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Kegalle are among the worst-affected districts. NBRO reports indicate continued risks of landslides and flooding there and risk maps exist. If severe conditions are forecast again, we must prepare now. I also propose a “Central Highlands Conservation and Development Programme” covering the central highlands for the next ten years, prioritizing the above districts, to regulate river outflows and thereby reduce downstream flooding and damage. A recognized expert panel should oversee this programme.
¶ 04 Finally, with participation of all political parties and experts, let us prepare a proper disaster management plan across all districts and take necessary steps to provide relief to all affected people. Thank you.
¶ 05 Placed in the Library.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 21 January 2026 ·No. 23242 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/2157
Cite as: The Hon. (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 21 January 2026. No. 23242. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/2157