The press release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation is as follows.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation confirms that only 30 cents was spent on printing a census sheet related to the census of wild animals that damage agricultural crops, and that the printing was done by the Government Printing Department, and that the total amount spent on printing the census sheets was Rs. 2,478,000.00 (including VAT).
We hereby inform that the statement made by Anuradha Tennakoon, while calling a press conference on the 7th of March 2025, that approximately Rs. 10.00 had been spent on printing a pamphlet and that the total cost of printing was approximately seven crores, is completely false, and that the media institutions that published the relevant false news should take steps to correct it.