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MV X-Press Pearl disaster: Second interim claim yet to be filed

11 Sep 2021

By Yumiko Perera The Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) is yet to hand over the documents regarding the second interim claim for the MV X-Press Pearl disaster, The Sunday Morning learnt. “We have not been able to finish the assessment for the second interim claim as yet. However, we are still in the process of assessing the environmental damage caused by the maritime disaster,” MEPA Chairperson Dharshani Lahandapura told The Sunday Morning. However, the Government had compiled expenditure for the period of 2 June to 31 August, and discussions are underway regarding the payments to be made, Lahandapura said. The committee of experts appointed to advise on the ship disaster recently submitted a report containing information that had been requested by the Attorney General (AG) in order to proceed with the process, The Sunday Morning learnt. “While the amount has not been finalised yet, as even now postmortems of dead marine life are being conducted in this regard; we are also in the process of sending samples to London for analytical testing via the Foreign Ministry, and the reports of these tests would also be considered when drawing a final conclusion,” she explained. The MEPA Chairperson stressed that it is a process that requires time, and that the environmental impact of the disaster is still in the process of being assessed. Meanwhile, State Minister of Fisheries Kanchana Wijesekera, addressing an online discussion earlier this week, revealed that the Ministry of Fisheries provided Rs. 216.5 million to the relevant district secretariats, to be distributed amongst the fishing communities that had been impacted by the MV X-Press Pearl disaster. The State Minister also indicated that as of 1 September, compensation payments had been made to 12,111 beneficiaries in the Colombo, Gampaha, and Kalutara Districts, who had lost their livelihoods owing to the maritime disaster. Several attempts by The Sunday Morning to contact State Minister Wijesekera for further insight in this regard proved futile.


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