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PM visits Kandy, pledges speedy compensation to victims
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday assured victims of this week’s violent incidents in Digana, Teldeniya, Kundasale and surrounding areas that they would be compensated as soon as possible.
The Prime Minister made this statement at a meeting he chaired at the Kandy Secretariat to discuss compensation for the victims. Among those who attended the meeting were community leaders from the affected areas.
Calling on the Divisional Secretaries of the affected areas to assess the damage and report back by Friday, the Premier said that Rs. 100,000 would be made as an initial payment and the Cabinet would decide on further compensations after assessing the individual needs. He said those whose business establishments had been fully damaged, an initial payment of around Rs. 500,000 would be made.
Mr. Wickremesinghe said the compensation scheme would be worked out on the basis of damage caused to the properties.
The Prime Minister called on banks to grant a grace period to businesses which had obtained bank loans until they became stable.
Several participants blamed the police for not acting swiftly to curb the violence. They said if the Police had acted without delay, the incidents would not have arisen.
In response, the Prime Minister said this was not the time for blame games, because the priority should be paying compensations to the victims, helping them rebuild their lives and restoring normalcy in the affected areas.
Stating that all communities in Sri Lanka need to live in peace, the Premier said all measures would be taken to prevent any recurrence of what happened this week in the Kandy district.
He called upon the Grama Niladaris and Divisional Secretaires to asses the damage with the help of the Valuation Department and submit a report to him before Friday.
Speaker Karu Jaysasuriya also visited Kandy yesterday.
The Speaker presided over a conference attended by Ministers, Police Chief Pujitha Jayasundera, Army Commander Mahes Senanayake, civil society activists and Sinhala and Muslim community leaders. The meeting took place at the Governor’s Auditorium in Kandy
The Speaker said the Police and Armed services had done their best to maintain peace though there were lapses.