Speaking at a Polonnaruwa District secretariat meeting, he said that 220 cases of child abuse were reported from the district in the year 2015 alone.

The second and third highest number of such cases are reported from the districts of Anuradhapura and Rathnapura respectively, he added.

He further said, " I have worked in several districts in the country. But I have never seen any activities related to child welfare being done in the Polonnaruwa district. However, a large number of such programmes exist in other areas."