Divi Neguma a damp squib: UNP

Wednesday, 6 February 2013 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Government went to war against the Judiciary for the Divi Neguma Act, claiming it was legislation to uplift the poor, but it is nothing more than a bunch of false promises, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake charged yesterday.

Displaying packets of seeds that he said a man had handed over to him in Galle, Attanayake said the seeds had arrived in a Divi Neguma package that provided instructions on how to start home gardens.

“The man said none of the seeds take root. Upon further investigation it was found that these seeds have been purchased from a private

UNP General Secretary

Tissa Attanayake

company and even lacks the certification of the Agriculture Department or any other competent authority on seed viability – is this how Divi Neguma is going to uplift the lives of the poor?” Attanayake said at a media briefing yesterday.

“The Government claims Divi Neguma will strengthen the economic conditions of the family, but we want to know which family’s financial situation it is really strengthening,” he said.

This is the legislation that resulted in the sacking of the Chief Justice, he charged.

Attanayake said that the Divi Neguma promotional material contained in the packaging claimed that this seed-gifting program was aimed at a national project to create five million home gardens.

“How can you build local economies with sub-standard seeds? This is not a national program, it’s a damp squib,” he said, calling the Divi Neguma project a “pus ata viyaparaya” (bad seed project).

(DB)