* President directs to expedite erecting 2500 kilometers of electric fence to minimize human-elephant conflict

June 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed relevant authorities to expedite the construction of of new fences island wide through a systematic program to keep the elephants away from the villages.

The President has given the order during a discussion at the Presidential secretariat yesterday (29) on maintaining the existing elephant fences.

Pointing out the need to maintain the elephant fences properly in preventing the human-elephant conflict, the President instructed the officials to renovate the inactive electric fences and fix the shortcomings.

It has been pointed out at the discussion that 1860 Civil Defense Force have been deployed for maintaining the electric fences but that force is not enough to maintain the 4000 kilometers of fences island wide.

Accordingly, the President instructed the relevant authorities to take steps to fill the vacancies soon.

The President also gave instructions to continue giving the daily allowance for food expenses to the members of the Civil Defense Force, and pointed out the need to initiate training programs for them.

Minister of Sustainable Development, Wildlife and Regional Development Sarath Fonseka, Ministry Secretary APG Kithsiri, Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, Kapila Waidyaratne, Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne and other senior officers of the Security Forces were also present at the meeting.


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