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Farmers continue protests, reject President’s offer
View(s):Farmers continued their protests in several parts of the country yesterday, demanding that the Government restore the earlier scheme of offering fertilizer at the subsidised price of Rs. 350. Protesting farmers in Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Weeraketiya and other places rejected the Government’s cash grant of Rs. 25,000 per hectare and President Maithripala Sirisena’s offer on Monday to make fertilizer available at
Rs. 2,500 a bag – about Rs. 1,000 less than the market price. At Monday’s special meeting at the Presidential Secretariat, the Government also decided that the cash grant would be sent to the farmers’ existing bank accounts and they need not open new bank accounts.
The President said that banks would be instructed to hand over the full grant to the farmers without deducting a single cent from it in view of any unpaid loans.