Only one-third of railway network operational

The Ditwah cyclone that swept across the country has caused widespread devastation, destroying over 137,000 acres of crops and severely damaging the nation's transport and communication networks, the Commissioner General of Essential Services, B. K. Prabath Chandrakirthi, said yesterday.

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Of the country's 1,593 km of railway lines, only 478 km remain operational, amounting to roughly one-third of the network, he added. The Department of Agrarian Services has also reported extensive agricultural damage, including 1,777 tanks, 483 anicuts, 1,936 stream channels, 328 agricultural roads, and 305 minor irrigation channels.