President reviews recovery efforts in Nuwara Eliya and Badulla

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake

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PRESIDENT Anura Kumara Dissanayake visited Nuwara Eliya and Badulla to review the recovery effort following Cyclone Ditwah, holding a series of meetings with officials to accelerate the restoration of essential services and support to affected families.

At the Nuwara Eliya District Coordinating Committee meeting, the President said significant progress has been achieved in rescue work, relief delivery and infrastructure repairs, but stressed the need to prevent future disasters through better planning and stronger institutional coordination.

According to official data, 63,121 people from 19,780 families in Nuwara Eliya have been affected by landslides and flooding. Discussions focused on restoring electricity, water supply, communications and irrigation systems, as well as the damage to vegetable and potato cultivation.

Agriculture officials told the meeting there was no shortage of vegetables in the District and that output had fallen by only about 25%, but warned that misleading reports of shortages had reduced daily demand.

The President instructed officials to provide an urgent report on affected farmers and crop damage, and to begin compensation and seed distribution to restart cultivation.

Road reconstruction dominated the meeting, with 611 estate-related roads remaining unrepaired because they do not fall under the Provincial or Local Authority networks.