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November 16th, 2017 at 3:21 am
Why is money alocated to the Pal Hora who is destroying Wilpattu ? Only JVP ( and Dilrook) is questioning this. Those Deshapremi Pal Horu are sleeping.
Resettlement funds Allocation to Bathiudeen comes under fire
By Gagani Weerakoon and Methmalie Dissanayake
The Government’s decision to allocate funds for resettlement to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce under the Budget 2018 came under severe criticism, by the Opposition in Parliament yesterday (15).
This was when Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Kalutara District MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa queried as to why the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should implement resettlement, while there is a separate Ministry for the purpose. Under Sections 188 and 189 of the expenditure proposals, the Government proposes to allocate Rs 2,500 million to resettle internally displaced Muslims and to provide housing and infrastructure.
The funds have been allocated to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce coming under Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.
“This is outrageous. Would the Government permit allocating funds to the Ministry of Health to develop fisheries harbours in Beruwala? How can this allocation be justified?,” questioned Dr. Jayatissa, adding……that if such an allocation had been made under the purview of the President or the Prime Minister that would have been acceptable and would have been a different matter.
The MP raised the question after Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Vanni District MP Charles Nirmalanathan brought to the notice of the House that Sections 188 and 189 of the expenditure proposals allocate funds to Minister Bathiudeen’s Ministry for tasks that do not come under the purview of the Ministry.
MP Nirmalanathan seeking an explanation from State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne said: The Section 188 is about resettling the Muslim internally displaced persons. In previous budgets, funds meant for resettlement were allocated to the Ministry of Resettlement coming under Minister D.M. Swaminathan. Under Section 189, a sum of Rs 250 million has been allocated to expedite the resettlement process which includes the rehabilitation of the Mannar town area with shopping complexes and a bus stand and to continue the township development programme at Silawathura. When I queried of this a front row senior Minister of the Government told me that it was because of a deal between the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Commerce. Minister Rauff Hakeem too would attest to that statement because he was there when I was told of the deal.”
Minister Wickremaratne challenged the TNA MP to name the front row Minister who talked of the deal between Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera and Minister Bathuideen. “You should name the Minister. I cannot respond to this allegation. The subject Ministers would of course respond to this. As of now, I could say that the subject of rehabilitation could come under any Ministry.
The subject of rehabilitation is a broad area. We have made large allocations for the development of the North. Those funds have been allocated under various Ministries. It seems that there is a personal issue in this matter. That could be taken up separately. You could name the Minister who talked of the deal,” Minister Wickremaratne said.
Minister Wickremaratne agreed with the JVP MP’s statement that there should be no fund allocation to the Ministry of Health for the development of the Beruwala harbour.