Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya

It is not a secret that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has never made any profits. 

The public must always chip in by paying more taxes to cover their expenses by pumping money from the government coffers.

Another generator at the Norochchole plant has been shut down, and social media is rife with news that a 10-hour power cut is on the cards.

If that is true, the CEB income will be further reduced by more than 40%, and how do the authorities plan to bridge the gap?

Naturally, increasing taxes and tariffs is the only way they know, and we have no say or control over the matter.

How about reducing the salaries of the CEB, including the minister who is responsible, by at least 30% to bridge the shortfall?

If for some reason, when a household income drops, either the household will use their reserves to supplement the shortfall or take measure to reduce their expenditure accordingly to meet the situation.

In the case of CEB, as I said from the beginning, they have no reserves whatsoever, and therefore the only option now available to them is to make necessary cutbacks on their expenditures.

Such a measure would only affect some families (around 300,000 heads), but it would be negligible compared to raising taxes on the entire population. 

Until they find a way to at least cover their expenditure, the shortfall amount should be adjusted by imposing prorated reductions in their employees’ salaries and not imposing more taxes on the entire population.

The same methodology should be applicable to all government-run entities with always have negative balances. 

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya.