Hon. Ajith Gihan
Hon. Ajith Gihan said the Government had responded to Cyclone Michaung through staged relief measures, including food assistance, cash grants for cleaning and household items, and plans for house reconstruction. He highlighted land identification challenges for resettlement, citing alleged illegal occupation of state land in Puttalam, and said 100 acres had been reserved for permanent housing for families affected by flooding in Sinnanaguwillu. He detailed the scale of damage in Puttalam District, including affected families, destroyed and damaged houses, schoolchildren needing assistance, and fisheries losses, and outlined compensation allocations and payment rates for damaged boats and fishing gear. He also stated that damaged rail infrastructure had been restored, procedures were being set for housing payments, and called for the recovery process to proceed without politicisation, fraud, or waste.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, the Opposition made many remarks about Cyclone Michaung. The current Government acted with planning: issuing dry rations, cooked food, then cash grants — Rs. 25,000 cleaning, Rs. 50,000 for household items — and now moving to rebuilding houses. Some claim high progress that is not reflected everywhere; however, at national level, progress is significant.
¶ 02 On land and housing: the final step is identifying land and constructing houses. This is challenging where state lands have been illegally appropriated by past politicians. In Puttalam, many such lands were grabbed; we are nevertheless identifying land to settle affected families.
¶ 03 On Sinnanaguwillu flooding: 33 houses were affected. We provided camps, food, and assistance immediately. We will pay rent support for six months for temporary accommodation and have reserved 100 acres for permanent resettlement and housing.
¶ 04 Puttalam District impacts: 546 GN divisions, 124,553 families, and 457,935 persons were affected. Houses: 590 fully destroyed, 9,990 partially damaged. We must replace 41,345 household items and assist 49,972 schoolchildren. The fisheries sector suffered heavily — broken boats, gear, traps. The Department of Fisheries has allocated Rs. 1.6 billion for relief and compensation; the National Aquaculture Development Authority Rs. 585 million for inland fisheries losses. We will pay: - Rs. 100,000 per fully destroyed boat; - Rs. 50,000 per boat for repairs; - Rs. 100,000 for marine nets and Rs. 75,000 for inland nets. About 449 boats were damaged: Rs. 44.9 million has been earmarked for that alone.
¶ 05 Rail lines and bridges to Puttalam and Chilaw were damaged but restored rapidly enough that trains now run to Puttalam. There has been no corruption: every rupee has gone to the people. For partially damaged houses and the Rs. 500,000 tranche, we are establishing clear procedures so officials can disburse without difficulty.
¶ 06 This is not the time for politicisation. Let us face the aftermath together and rebuild without fraud or waste.
¶ 07 Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Wednesday, 21 January 2026 ·No. 23242 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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Cite as: Hon. Ajith Gihan. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 21 January 2026. No. 23242. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/2204