Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Dec. 2 (Daily Mirror)- The failure to act by the President, Prime Minister and the Cabinet to avert the recent floods is a violation of the Constitution which guarantees the right to life of the people, a statement issued by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and leader of the United National Party (UNP) said today.

The National Disaster Management Plan was not activated on November 27, 2025 instead of on November 28. The most crucial day for the operations was declared a public holiday. The process of last-minute dissemination of early warning messages set out in the plan was never activated. The President failed to declare a state of emergency as per powers vested with him under the Disaster Management Act. The President, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet failed to act under the relevant provisions of law to mitigate the harm caused by the disaster. We hold that the executive action or inaction infringes the fundamental rights of life of the citizens is actionable before the Supreme Courts as a Constitutional tort,” the statement said.