The Hon. Riyas Farook

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, in this Committee Stage debate on the 2025 Budget for Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation, I thank you for the time.

¶ 02 At the outset, I welcome two announcements by Hon. Lal Kantha, Minister: resolving issues caused by wild elephants, and intervening to address the Akurana flooding problem.

¶ 03 Why do I raise Akurana? Recently, during the debate on Urban Development, the Hon. Rauff Hakeem spoke about Akurana floods. After the Minister spoke, Opposition Members kept returning to it. Let us be clear: for 76 years, successive governments—including many in today’s Opposition—allowed encroachment along the Akurana canal banks, first with temporary wooden structures, then concrete, during court recess periods, with political patronage at every tier. Both canal banks were constricted by buildings, causing blockages at Wahagala Oya and Piga Oya; I know these points well—Wahagala Oya runs in front of my family home; Piga Oya by my shop.

¶ 04 We have been in Government for only three months. We were told to speed up works—we are doing so. But those who enabled three decades of canal encroachment now ask for instant solutions. I table a compiled booklet on the causes of Akurana flooding—recycled at each election with photos, committee notes from Jamiyathul Ulama, mosque committees and officials, used for campaign promises of “solutions.” We are now acting: multiple agencies are engaged; we have requested observations from the University of Peradeniya engineering team; SLLDC has been allocated Rs. 22 million for a feasibility. Earlier reports—even one by Dr. Lariff’s team—were produced but not acted upon. We will implement solutions swiftly, to the extent possible.

¶ 05 On Delthota drinking water shortages: we are also addressing those, not merely politicizing them as before. We will proceed as fast as we can.

¶ 06 Thank you.