The United Rice Growers’ Association says that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is increasingly turning to hydropower generation due to the lack of fuel to generate electricity, which could adversely affect paddy cultivation in the forthcoming Yala season.
“Currently the Ceylon Electricity Board is facing a problem in generating electricity as they do not have the required fuel. This gives us information that they are turning to hydropower to generate electricity. The reservoirs of the Mahaweli scheme were not built for the purpose of generating hydropower, but for the full purpose of these purposes to uplift agriculture in Sri Lanka and increase paddy yield. But we saw this government forgetting all that and releasing water to generate hydropower. If that happens we will not have enough water for paddy cultivation during the Yala season. That is why we ask the government to retain that water in reservoirs until the Yala season. If you want to generate electricity, use fuel or something else. Because we can get fuel through dollars, but we cannot get water in dollars for the Yala season ”
The President of the United Rice Growers Association Mudith Perera stated this while expressing his views to the media yesterday (15).
