Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed relevant authorities to act on a war footing to control the Sena caterpillar, which poses a massive threat to the agricultural crops.

In a meeting held at his office on Tuesday, the President further instructed to jointly implement a program to spray pesticide and launch a national programme within a time frame. He also announced setting up of a Presidential task force to supervise the program and to take swift decisions to control the menace.

He asked that the program should be implemented with the participation of the agricultural researchers and field officers of government and private sector.Several thousands of acres of agricultural crops is reported to have been damaged by the caterpillar forcing government to take measures to control it.

The cabinet meeting held today decided to award 40 thousand Sri Lankan rupees for every acre of crop damaged due to the worm.