Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-01-02

Further payment of house rental provided to the families who were displaced from their dwelling places due to the water leakages of the Main Tunnel of the Uma Oya Multi Purpose Development Project

- The Cabinet granted approval on the 29th of August, 2017 for the payment of a monthly rental for a period of 06 months for the householders adversely affected due to the water leakage which occurred in the Main Tunnel of the Uma Oya Multi Purpose Development Project and evacuated from their permanent dwelling places, until they are provided with suitable alternative residential lands by the Government. The National Building Research Organization has reported that several plots of lands identified for re‑settlement of the families, situated in the Bandarawela area are not quite safe for residential purposes. Accordingly, a land belonging to the Department of Forest Conservation has been identified as suitable for the purpose and the future activities related to the purpose are in progress.

As such, in accordance with the recommendation made by the Cabinet Sub‑Committee appointed to examine and provide relief to the persons affected due to the leakage of the main tunnel of the Uma Oya Multi Purpose Development Project, the Cabinet granted approval to provide the monthly house rental now being paid for the families who were evacuated due to the disaster situation, for a further period of 06 months.