Vavuniya District Secretary,  Bandula Harishchandra says that people should be vigilant when consuming fish from dried out reservoirs.

Speaking to News1st he added that consuming such fish could cause health problems.

He added: “There are reports of a certain group of people who are catching fish from the mud in dried out reservoirs and selling them. We all know that in the dry zone, people does not have tendency to eat fish that is caught from dried out reservoirs – because they are unclean. i request the public to be careful when consuming fish.”

In the meantime, the Department of Agrarian services states that steps have been taken to pay compensation to 40,000 farmers whose cultivations were destroyed by the drought, through the national insurance trust fund.

Commissioner General of the department Sunil Weerasingha stated that the preliminary work in this regard is being carried out adding that Rs.25,000 will be paid for a completely destroyed hectare of cultivated land.

The commissioner general added that according to the reports about 45 000 acres have been destroyed in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Monaragala, Hambantota and Kurunegala Districts.

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