Courtesy The National News

Protests continue over country’s worst economic crisis in memory and deepening mistrust in president’s leadership

Sri Lankans participate in a protest in the capital Colombo, demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, shortly before the start of a nationwide curfew. APAssociated PressApr 04, 2022

Sri Lanka’s largest opposition party rejected an invitation from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday to form a unity government.

Protests continued over the country’s worst economic crisis in memory and deepening mistrust in Mr Rajapaksa’s leadership.

All 26 Cabinet ministers resigned on Sunday night after thousands of people defied a countrywide state of emergency and curfew, and joined street protests denouncing the government.

The office of Mr Rajapaksa, who assumed emergency powers by decree at midnight on Friday, said he invites all political parties represented in the Parliament to come together to accept ministerial portfolios in order to find solutions to this national crisis”.

The largest opposition political party, the United People’s Force, or SJB, immediately rejected the unity government proposal.READ MORESri Lanka declares emergency amid unrest over economic crisis

The people of this country want Gotabaya and the entire Rajapaksa family to go and we can’t go against the people’s will and we can’t work alongside the corrupt,” top SJB official Ranjth Madduma Banadara told AP.

SJB has 54 seats in the 225-member Parliament. Its rejection of the president’s request is likely to result in continued uncertainty and protests, which were held throughout the country on Monday.

A countrywide curfew was lifted on Monday morning.

The president and his older brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, continued to hold on to power.

Two other brothers, finance minister Basil Rajapaksa and Irrigation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa, were among those who resigned, along with the prime minister’s son, sports minister Namal Rajapaksa.

Those resignations were regarded as the family’s effort to pacify public anger while retaining executive, defence and legislative powers.Sri Lankan police fire tear gas after protesters defy curfew

The Central Bank’s top official, accused of economic mismanagement, also resigned on Monday.

For months, Sri Lankans have endured long lines to buy fuel, cooking gas, foods and medicine, most of which come from abroad and are paid for in hard currency.

The fuel shortage has caused rolling power cuts lasting several hours a day.

The extent of the crisis became clear when Sri Lanka could not pay for imports of basic supplies because of its huge debts and dwindling foreign reserves.

The country’s usable foreign reserves reportedly amount to be less than $400 million, according to experts, and it has nearly $7 billion in foreign debt obligations for this year.

Meanwhile, a key ally of the president’s ruling coalition withdrew support on Monday, weakening his control in Parliament.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party — which comprised 14 out of the nearly 150 members of the ruling coalition — will act independently starting on Tuesday, when the Parliament meets, party official Mahinda Amaraweera said.We don’t want to leave the country and go, and we want to give our child a good future, but everyone is stealing our moneyInoma Fazil, fashion designer

Police used a water cannon to disperse angry protesters who marched toward the Rajapaksa family home in southern Sri Lanka, demanding that they quit.

Demonstrators shouting slogans also surrounded the homes of the resigning ministers and ruling party legislators in several parts of the country.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s emergency declaration gives him wide powers to protect public order, suppress mutinies, riots or civil disturbances or for the maintenance of essential supplies.

Under the decree, the president can authorise detentions, seizure of property and searches of premises. He can also change or suspend any law except the constitution.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday swore in four temporary Cabinet ministers to continue the main government functions of foreign affairs and finance, and to help lead the ruling party’s parliamentary group.

Sri Lankans, including professionals, students and families with small children, defied the emergency decree and curfew on Sunday to demand the president’s resignation.

In this country it is so difficult,” said Inoma Fazil, a fashion designer who took her 18-month-old daughter to a protest in the Colombo suburb of Rajagiriya on Sunday.’

We don’t want to leave the country and go and we want to give our child a good future, but everyone is stealing our money. So we came here for her and the rest of the children.”

Two new parents with their newborn joined the rally directly from the maternity hospital. They were greeted with cheers by the protesters, who sang the national anthem and waved flags and placards.

For nearly 15 hours, authorities blocked access to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp and other social media platforms used to organise the protests.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa last month said his government was in talks with the International Monetary Fund and had turned to China and India for loans.

He appealed to people to limit their use of fuel and electricity, and extend their support to the country”.

Ajit Ranade Courtesy mint

A global shock on top of fiscal profligacy and a foreign debt overload could wreck large economies too.

The entire cabinet of Sri Lanka resigned this week, collectively expressing its inability to handle the country’s worsening economic crisis. This was just hours after the lifting of a curfew that was imposed nationwide. The curfew followed the previous week’s imposition of a state of emergency by its president due to a deteriorating food and fuel crisis. This is Sri Lanka’s worst ever economic crisis. The pandemic severely dented tourism revenues, which were about $4 billion annually in a $80 billion economy prior to 2019. Even its inward remittances dropped from roughly $7 billion before the pandemic to less than half that level presently. Tourism and remittances are two of the island economy’s top three foreign-exchange earners. The third is apparel exports, which too have been hit during the pandemic. A crucial forex earner is tea, whose production plummeted thanks to a ban on the use (and import) of chemical fertilizers. The president tried to camouflage that ban (which was actually a desperate measure to save the outgo of precious forex) as being nature-friendly and pro-organic farming. That fertilizer ban also adversely affected rice production, causing the nation to import rice for the first time.

Courtesy Adaderana

In a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Chief Prelates of the four Buddhist Chapters have put forward several proposals including to dissolve the Cabinet and the setting up of an interim government. 

In the letter, the Mahanayake Theros present six proposals to resolve the prevailing social-economic crises in the country.

The joint letter is signed by Most Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Mahanayaka Thero of the Malwathu Chapter, Most Ven. Dr. Warakagoda Dhammasiddi Sri Gnanarathabidhana Mahanayake Thero of the Siyamopali Maha Nikaya – Asgiriya Chapter, Most Ven. Dodampahala Chandrasiri Maha Nayaka Thero of Sri Kelayanivasa, Amarapura Maha Nikaya and Maha Nayaka Thero of the Ramanna Maha Nikaya, Most Ven. Makulewe Wimalaabhidana Thero. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Leader of National Freedom Front (NFF) MP Wimal Weerawansa has called on the President to uproot the entire administration that has disgruntled the members of the public.

He also requested the Head of State to set the scene to establish an interim government with a mandate of the majority in the parliament.

The former minister’s remarks came during a media briefing today (April 04), held with the participation of the 11 government-allied political parties.

Speaking further, Weerawansa also urged the President not to let the country fall into a state of anarchy and instability.

Courtesy Adaderana

Former State Minister Nimal Lanza warns that the government will lose its majority in parliament if it attempts to continue through various tactics.

Accordingly, more than 50 Members of Parliament representing the ruling party are prepared to function independently in Parliament tomorrow (05), he said.

Speaking to the media in Negombo today (04), he further stated that it is very reasonable for the people to ask the government to go home.

He said that the government should understand this pressure and step down, adding that at this moment the people’s demand should be listened to and not politics.

I wish to clearly state that more than 50 will be independent in Parliament tomorrow. We hope to make a statement in Parliament while listening to the demands of the people, and leave the government and support anyone in the opposition to govern.”

We clearly say that if the government does not take that action today, all the more than 50 in Parliament will unite tomorrow and especially we in the SLPP will be independent. Then when the government loses the majority 113, the government will have to be dissolved. Then the President can invite anyone to take a government and continue this,” he said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Ajith Nivard Cabraal on Monday said he has tendered his resignation to the President. 

In the context of all Cabinet Ministers resigning, I have today submitted my resignation as Governor, CBSL to HE President Gotabaya Rajapaksa,” he announced in a twitter post.

All 26 Cabinet Ministers had resigned with immediate effect late on Sunday night. 

Speaking to reporters, the Leader of the House, Dinesh Gunawardena, said the Cabinet Ministers handed over their resignations to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is to continue in the position. He proffered no reason for the mass resignation.

Meanwhile President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday invited all political parties represented in parliament to accept ministerial portfolios to help find a way out of the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. 

A statement by his office read, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa invited all political parties to come together to find solutions to the ongoing national crisis. Considering this a national need, the time has come to work together for the sake of all the citizens and future generations.”

Cabraal, who had served as the State Minister of Money & Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms of the 9th Parliament, had tendered his resignation as an SLPP National List MP to once again take over the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in September last year.

A veteran Chartered Accountant, he had previously served as the Governor of CBSL from 2006 to 2016.

Courtesy Adaderana

Several new Cabinet Ministers have been sworn in before the President this morning (04) as a temporary Cabinet, according to the Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena. 

Accordingly, Prof. G.L. Peiris has been sworn in as the Foreign Minister, Ali Sabry has been sworn in as the Finance Minister, Johnston Fernando as the Minister of Highways and Dinesh Gunawardena as the Education Minister.

Speaking to the media, Mr. Gunawardena said that the President made these appointments this morning to maintain government affairs until a full permanent Cabinet is appointed.  

Temporary Cabinet 

Prof. G.L. Peiris – Minister of Foreign Affairs 

Ali Sabry – Minister of Finance 

Johnston Fernando – Minister of Highways

Dinesh Gunawardena – Minister of Education 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The document which is being circulated on social media which says Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa will be sworn in as Prime Minister shortly is a fake one, SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma said. 

“The document which is circulated in a letter head of SJB and signed by me is false. We are not prepared to accept any post in a government which includes SLPP,” he said. 

The document which is circulated in the social media under the letterhead of SJB and with Mr. Madduma Bandara’s signature says Mr. Premadasa will be sworn in as Prime Minister later in the day.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 3 (DailyMirror) – Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is likely to step down from his position in the coming hours after both he and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has agreed to form an All Party interim government, the Daily Mirror learns. 

Following a meeting with the 11 party alliance members, a proposal had been submitted by the members that an all party interim government should be formed immediately with a new Prime Minister to ensure political stability in the country.

Both Mahinda and Gotabaya had given a favorable response with sources stating that Mahinda had agreed to step down for a new SLPP MP to be appointed to the Premiership to ensure immediate political stability.

Sources said that the name of Dinesh Gunwawardena had been proposed as the new Prime Minister but this was yet to be confirmed.

From the main opposition SJB side, the name of Harsha De Silva has been proposed as the new Finance Minister to replace Basil Rajapaksa. (Jamila Husain)

Courtesy Adaderana

All Cabinet Ministers have decided to resign from their respective ministerial portfolios, SLPP parliamentarian and Leader of the House Dinesh Gunawardena said.

He said the ministers have tendered their letters of resignation to the Prime Minister.

However, he confirmed that Mahinda Rajapaksa will continue to serve as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

The prime minister is expected to hold further discussions with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa tomorrow (04), the MP added. 

It was earlier reported that Namal Rajapaksa had resigned as the Cabinet Minister of Youth and Sports and other ministerial portfolios. 

Meanwhile in response to speculation that PM Mahinda Rajapaksa was preparing to step down, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement this evening categorically denying rumors in circulation to that effect.

The PM’s Office also said that new arrangements to address issues relating to the supply of fuel, electricity and gas are being discussed.

The Prime Minister had met with the President in Colombo earlier today, in what was reported as decisive talks ahead of an emergency cabinet meeting at Temple Trees. It is speculated that a new cabinet will be formed soon.

Shenali D Waduge

29 People enter Parliament without contesting elections & without the franchise of the People. This negates the principle of parliamentary democracy where the will of the People has been digressed without the consent of the People. The principle behind including a national list was to enable experts & professionals who could not contest elections but could contribute to legislative governance.  While on paper this was a meritorious gesture, in reality the principle has been flouted to absorb all the bad eggs who either failed to get elected or could never stand for elections & win entry to Parliament. This component is negating the spirit of democracy & is violating the core foundation of the constitution – that being sovereignty is inalienable & with the People. The people chose their representatives via elections. But the people do not choose the members of the national list & thus national list members should only function on an advisory role instead of being given plum posts. It is time people demanded its removal.

Over the years parliament has been filled not with experts & professionals but with politicians who have been rejected by the people at election and as a means of a back door entry to parliament.

How can political parties ignore the spirit with which the national list was created?

Section 99A of the 14^th amendment allows parties to ignore the lists they have given & nominate whomsoever they like.

2015 National List

Even the JVP that includes a colourful list of experts (auditor general, lawyers, university professors, writers – ended up removing them & plugging defeated JVP politicians. Ex: former auditor general Sarathchandra Mayadunne had to step down to return rejected Sunil Handunnetti to Parliament. The UPFA ended up nominating 7 defeated candidates to their final list. ITAK too nominated defeated candidates for its 2 national list slots. UNP included one defeated ACMC to its list

The 29 National List seats for 2020 were distributed thus

• 17 for SLPP
• 7 for SJB
• 1 for JJB/JVP (2 seats + 1 national list = 3 seats)
• 1 for ITAK (9 seats + 1 national list = 10 seats)
• 1 for AITC (1 seat + 1 national list = 2 seats)
• 1 for UNP (no district level seats + 1 national list = 1 seat)
• 1 for OPPP (our People of People Party) (no district level seat + 1 national list = 1 seat)

SJB secured 47 district level seats & 7 national list seats – total 54 seats

1. Tissa Attanayake
2. Imtiaz Bakeer Markar
3. Eran Wickremaratne
4. Mayantha Dissanayake
5. Harin Fernando
6. Ranjit Madduma Bandara
7. Diana Gamage – who crossed over to the SLPP

Apart from Diana Gamage all of SJB nominees were politicians who had been standing for elections in the past & should not have had their names included into a national list.

UNP did not secure a single district level seat & the sole national list seat was taken by Ranil Wickremasinghe who contested elections but was defeated but re-entered Parliament through the back door nominating himself without giving place to the nominees given by UNP.

SLPP secured 128 seats + 17 national list = 145 seats

4 of the National List nominees have been given Cabinet level appointments and are making decisions without the franchise of the People.

These 4 are making key decisions pertaining to the country’s

• Finance (Ajith Nivard Cabraal & Basil Rajapakse after Jayantha Ketagoda resigned to enable Basil Rajapakse to enter Parliament)
• Foreign Policy & previously Education by GL Pieris chairman of SLPP
• Justice – Ali Sabri

Dr. Seetha Arambepola has been made a State Minister – State Minister of Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research and Innovation (113 days present in Parliament)

Dr. Charitha Herath is the COPE Chairman

Less than 100 days

G L Pieris (97)

Ajit Nivard Cabraal (86) – stepped down to become Governor CBSL

More than 100 days present in Parliament out of 150

Ali Sabri (105)

Seetha Arambepola (113)

Tissa Vitharana (116)

Prof. Ranjith Bandara (121)

More than 125 days present in Parliament out of 150

Suren Raghavan (125)

Jayantha Weerasinghe (125)

Manjula Dissanayake (129)

Jayantha Ketagoda (134)

Gevindu Kumaratunga

More than 140 days present in Parliament out of 150

1. Muzzamil (141)

Faleel Marjan (141)

Charitha Herath (145)

Sagara Kariyawasam (145)

Yadamini Gunawardena (149)

Less than 50 days present in Parliament out of 150

Tiran Alles(50)

The national list of nominations violates the elective principle with which it was created.  Though the national list of 29 members was created with good intention, it has become the loophole to nominate politicians likely to lose at an election, bring in politicians outside of the nominated list (Ranil Wickremasinghe & Sunil Handunetti), enable nominees to step down & bring in total outsiders without vote (Jayantha Ketagoda resigning for Basil Rajapakse) and now national list nominees are even crossing over (Diana Gamage)

There is a golden rule to Parliamentary Democracy. The will of the people must prevail & not the will of the political parties. People hold elections to vote their representatives to Parliament. No one should be seated in parliament without the people’s mandate. The irony is that in the present parliament key posts have gone to people who have no mandate from the People and who do not represent the People’s will. The arguments for their inclusion has been that they have given free legal advice & free English advice. If so, leaders who have made use of them must remunerate them personally & not by giving them state positions at state expense.

It is also noteworthy that the majority of these nominees are practicing lawyers & the question of conflict of interest is likely to arise as well as instances of bias and exertion of powers to influence legal outcome cannot be ruled out.

It is prudent to question why the entities claiming to stand up for democracy are not steering a campaign to remove the national list or insist that it enable ONLY experts to be included but only on an advisory role & not to hold cabinet or state level ministerial portfolios.

Cabinet & State Ministerial portfolios must be given to those who have entered Parliament with the People’s vote. If any of the national list MPs deem they are worthy of holding a Public Post, they must come forward to contest elections & face the People & obtain their mandate.

If we are going to talk democracy we must follow democratic norms as well.

Shenali D Waduge

Rohan Laksiri General Secretary Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA). 

We are currently experiencing the worst economic and political collapse in the history of Sri Lanka post-independence. The present government, consisting of a two-thirds majority in Parliament and an executive president with unlimited powers obtained through the infamous 20th Constitutional Amendment, has, in a short period of time, disappointed the people of this country with its short-sighted financial, economic, and foreign policies. It has made the youth of the country who volunteered after the last election to beautify the cities and cultivate the barren paddy fields with the dream of a better future for the country leave the country altogether. The country has now reached a stage where meeting basic needs such as fuel, gas, electricity, milk powder, and fertilizer has become a daily and continuous struggle.  The extent to which the situation has deteriorated has become further evident by the postponement of school term tests due to the lack of printing paper. Unfortunately, other than unsatisfactory attempts at implementing ad-hoc, temporary, and ineffective measures, we have not seen this government present or implement definite and well-thought-out plans to overcome the crisis. We have not witnessed at least a genuine interest to overcome this crisis on the part of the present government. 

It is against this backdrop that the people of this country have been driven to take to the streets on their own, without the backing of political parties or any other organizations, as never seen in recent history.

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) strongly condemns the current regime for not solving the legitimate issues of the general public and focusing only on retaining power by indiscriminately using military and police forces under the guise of emergency and curfew, labeling unarmed peaceful protesters extremists, and attempting to provoke them into violence by using petty tactics that are unbecoming of a democratically elected government.

We urge the government, including the President, to immediately bring forth appropriate short-term and long-term solutions to the current crisis by taking advice from actual experts in financial and economic management rather than their family members and business associates. We also urge the general public to act prudently in engaging in protests against this inefficient and atrocious regime. Further, we implore the people not to fall into the traps of the government as well as other opportunistic forces and not to endanger lives and public property.

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) is ready to provide the expertise and experience of our able members to ensure the success of any sincere initiative that would bring relief to the affected.

චානක බණ්ඩාරගේ

දැන් සිදුවන විදුලිය කැපීම

අද ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඇත්තේ අති දැවැන්ත විදුලිය කැපීමකි.  ඇතැම් ප්‍රදේශවල දිනකට පැය 12ක් වැනි කාලයක් විදුලිය කැපේ. මෙයට විවිධ හේතු රජය සපයයි. ඩොලර් අර්බුදය මෙයට ප්‍රධාන හේතුවක් බව කවුරුත් දනීයි.  

අද රටේ සහයට ඉදිරිපත් ව ඇත්තේ නොරොච්චෝලේ ලක්විජය විදුලි බලාගාරයයි. නොරොච්චෝලේ ධාරිතාවය වැඩි කර, මුළු රටම වැටිය හැකි මහා අන්ධකාරයෙන් ගලවා ගැනීමට, රජයට යම් තරමට හැකි වී ඇත. නොරොච්චෝලේත් නැත්නම්?

නොරොච්චෝලේ ඇත්තටම හැදුවේ චන්ද්‍රිකාද, මහින්ද ද; ඇමරිකන් ඩොලර් 500කින් හැදිය හැකිව තිබු නොරොච්චෝලේ ඇමරිකන් ඩොලර් 1500ක පමණ වියදමකින් අවසන් වුයේ මන්ද, චීනයෙන් කෙලින්ම ඩොලර් 500ක කොමිෂන් ඉල්ලුවේ නම් ඒ කවුද (එක් පුද්ගලයෙක් මේසා විශාල ධන සම්භාරයක් තනිවම ගිල්ලේ නම් එම රට බංකලොත් වී යාම අරුමයක් නොවේ), වැනි දේ විග්‍රහ කිරීම මේ ලිපියේ අරමුණ නොවේ.

මෙවැනි විදුලි කැපීම් වලින් රටට කොපමණ පාඩුවක් සිදු වේද? රෝහල්වල ශල්‍යකර්ම ඇණ සිට ඇත. කොපමණ ප්‍රමාණයක් ලෙඩුන් මැරෙන්න ඇද්ද?  නිවෙස්වල විභාග වලට පාඩම් කරන පාසැල්  ළමෝ ආලෝකය සපයා ගැනීම සඳහා ඉටිපන්දම් සොයා වෙළඳ සැල් පීරා යත්. රජයේ සහ පෞද්ගලික ආයතනවල වැඩකටයුතු බෙහෙවින් ඇණ සිට ඇත. සේවකයන් වේලාසනින් නිවෙස් කරා යැවීමට බොහෝ ආයතනවලට සිදු වී ඇත. සුපර් මාර්කට්, මධ්‍යම සහ කුඩා වෙළඳ සල් වල පමණක් නොව නිවෙස්වල පවා ශීතකරනවල ආහාර නරක් වී විශාල ප්‍රමාණයෙන් ආහාර අහක දමන තත්ත්වයන්  උද්ගතවී ඇත.  මිරිහානේදී රැස්වුවන්ගේද එක් ප්‍රධාන සටන් පාටයක් වුයේ ‘විදුලිය දියව්’ යන්නය.

නොරොච්චෝලේ අද අපේ  සහායට සිටී. එය අධිබල විදුලි බලාගාරයකි. අප ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ඇත්තේ එවැනි එකක් පමණි. ඉතා වැඩිවන විදුලි ඉල්ලුම අනුව නොරොච්චෝලේ පමණක් අපට මදිය.  සාම්පුර් අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ ඒ නිසාය.  මේ දෙකම ගල් අගුරු බලාගාරය.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ රජය සාම්පුර් ඉදිකිරිම සඳහා ඉන්දියාවෙන් ඇමරිකන් ඩොලර් මිලියන 600ක ආධාර (US$600 million) අනුමත කරගෙන තිබුණි (ණය නොවේ).  නමුත්, යහපාලන රජය විසින් 2016දී මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය මුළුමනින්ම අවලංගු කරන ලදී. ඒ සිරිසේන මහතා විසින් ගන්නා ලද අමනෝඥ තීරණය නිසාය.

පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්තිය

අද, ගල් අඟුරු වෙනුවට පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්තියෙන් (සුළං, සොලාර්) පමණක් ඉදිරියේදී විදුලිය ජනනය කරන්නෙමු යයි රජය පැවසීම රටට වැඩ දායක වූ ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් නොවේ.  එය හරියට පැය 24න් රසායනික පොහොර වෙනුවට කාබනික පොහොර යොදමු යයි කීවා වැනි දෙයකි. අවසානයේදී  අමාරුවේ වැටෙන්නේ ජනතාවය.

ලොව කිසිම රටක් සුළං, සොලාර් වලින් පමණක් සිය විදුලිබල සැපයුම සම්පුර්ණ කරගෙන නැත.

සුළං මාපක විදුලි බලාගාර

මෙම ලියුම්කරු දන්නා පරිදි මුළු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවටම අද ඇත්තේ සුළං මාපක විදුලි බලාගාර 16කි. ඒ සියල්ලෙන්ම නිපදවුණු ලබන්නේ මෙගා වොට් 230ක් පමණ වූ සුළු විදුලි බලයකි. මේ බලාගාරවල යටිතල ඉදිකිරීම් වියදම් ඉතා වැඩිය. වාර්ෂික නඩත්තු වියදම් ද වැඩිය. මේවා සුළඟේ වේගය බිදින නිසා වායු ඌෂ්ණත්වය වැඩිවී වාතයේ කාර්බන් ඩයොක්සයිඩ් (CO2) ප්‍රතිශතය ඉහල නංවයි. ‘green house’ ගෑස් නිපදවනවාට අමතරව සමහර  සුළං බලාගාර අධික ශබ්ධයක් විහිදුවයි. සුළං බලාගාර ඉදිකිරීමට විශාල භුමි ප්‍රමාණයක් වැයවේ. ඒවා බොහෝ විට උස් භුමි ද විය යුතුය. හොඳින් සුළං ලැබෙන ප්‍රදේශ විය යුතුයි. මුහුද ආශ්‍රීත භුමි වලින් වැඩි ප්‍රයෝජනයක් ලබා ගත හැක්කේ මෙවන් සුළං බලාගාර ඉදි කිරීමන් නොව සංචාරක හෝටල ඉදිකිරීමෙනි.

සොලාර් පවර් බලාගාර

සොලාර් පවර් බලාගාරවල තත්ත්වයද එසේමය. ලංකාවේ දැනට තිබෙන සොලාර් පවර් ෆාර්ම් 5න් නිපදවන්නේ මෙගා වොට් 143ක පමණ ඉතා සුළු විදුලි බලයකි. මෙවාට විදුලි බලය නිපදවන්න හැකි වන්නේ සූර්යයාගෙන් එන ඍජු හිරු එළියෙන් පමණය. සොලාර් පැනල් නිවෙස් ඒකකවලට  හොඳින් හිරු එළිය පතිතවන දිනවල ආලෝකමත් කිරීමට ඉතා කදිමයි.  නිල් අහසේ ඇති එළියෙන් විදුලි බලය නිර්මාණය කිරීමට ඒවාට නොහැක. තවද, රාත්‍රී කාලයේදී විදුලි බලය නිර්මාණය කිරීමක් සිදු නොවේ. සොලාර් ෆාර්ම් ඉදිකිරීමේ වියදම් ඉතා අධිකය. සවි කරන්නන්ට ඉහල විශේෂඥ දැනුමක්  තිබීම ඉතා අවශ්‍යයි. ඉතා  මිල අධික සොලාර් පැනල් පිටරටින් ගෙන්විය යුතුය. හිරු එලිය අඩු හෝ නැති දිනවල/වැසි දිනවල සොලාර් පැනල් වලින් විදුලිය උත්පාදනය නැත/අඩුය; ඒ දිනවල වෙනත් ක්‍රම වලින් විදුලි බලය නිෂ්පාදනය කර බෙදාහැරීමට සිදුවේ.  

සුළං සහ සොලාර් කුඩා ව්‍යාපෘති වශයෙන් යම් ප්‍රදේශවලට විදුලිය උත්පාදනය කිරීමට යොදා ගත්තාට කමක් නැත. නමුත් මුළු රටක, අති විශාල වූ විදුලි බල ඉල්ලුම ඒවාට සැපයිය නොහැක. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මෙගා වොට් 500ක ඉතා කඩිනම් අවශ්‍යතාවයක් ඇත.

නමුත්, සුළං සහ සොලාර් ගැන පමණක්, 100%,  විශ්වාසය තබා සිටින රජය, ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ඉමහත් කැපවීමකින් වැඩ කරයි. අනෙක් විදුලි බල සැපයුම් මාර්ග ගැන අවධානයක් යොමු නොකරයි.

මේවා ඉදිකිරීමට උතුරේ සහ නැගෙනහිර වටිනා ඉඩම් රජය විසින් තරඟයට මෙන් චීනයට සහ ඉන්දියාවට පවරා දෙමින් සිටී. කල්පිටිය, මන්න්නාරම, තලෙයිමන්නාරම, මුත්තුර්, සාම්පුර්, කයිට්ස්/ඩෙල්ෆ්ට් දුපත් ලංකාවේ ඉතා අගනා සම්පත් වේ. මේ වටිනා ඉඩම් සුළං සහ සොලාර් ව්‍යාපෘති සඳහා නොව සංචාරක වැනි කර්මාන්ත වලට යෙදවීමෙන් රටට විශාල ආදායමක්, රැකියා අවස්ථා ඇති කරගත හැකියි.

චීනයට, අදානිට අක්කර දහස් ගණනින් ඉඩම් රජය දෙන්නේ දීර්ඝ කාලින බදු පදනම මතය, අවුරුදු 99 වැනි. මේවා දෙන්නේ නිකම්ද? නැත්නම් ගෙවූ මුදල් මොනවාද?

ඒ අය යටිතල පහසුකම් සඳහා මුදල් ආයෝජනය කරන බව සැබවි. රජයට කිසිදු මුදලක් වියදම් නොවී ඔවුහු විදුලි බලය  උත්පාදනය කරනු ඇත. එහෙත්, ඔවුන් මේ සුළං සහ සොලාර් බලාගාර වල නිපදවන විදුලිය නැවත විකුණන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයටයි (විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලයට). ඔවුන් ඉල්ලන්න ඕනෑම අධ්ක මිලකට විදුලි බලය මිලදී ගැනීමට අපට සිදුවේ. ඉදිරියේදී, අපව මුල්ලකට තල්ලු කර, හිර කර තැබීමට ඔවුනට හොඳටම හැකියාව ඇත. ජනතාවට විදුලිය සඳහා දරන්න බැරි මිලක් ගෙවීමට සිදුවේද?

ජල විදුලිබලාගාර

ජල විදුලිබලාගාර අසාර්ථක බව මුළු ලොවම දැන් පිළිගෙන ඇත. මෑතක සිට අධික වර්ෂාවක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පතිත වේ. මෙය ජල විදුලි උත්පාදනයට මහත් වාසියකි. නමුත් කවදා නියඟයක් පැමිනෙන්නේදැයි කිසි වෙකුටත් කිව නොහැක. දැනටත් බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවල නියං සමයන් ඇත. අනික, ජල විදුලි බලාගාරයකින්  උත්පාදනය කල හැක්කේ සොච්චම් විදුලි බලයකි.  

මහවැලියෙන් දැවැන්ත ජල විදුලි බලාගාර 8ක් තනනු ලැබීය – වික්ටෝරියා, කොත්මලේ, ඉහල කොත්මලේ, රන්දෙනිගල, උමා ඔය, රන්ටැඹේ,   බෝවතැන්න, මොරගහකන්ද, නිලාඹේ  ඒවා වේ. මේ වෙනුවෙන් වියදම් කරන ලද ධන ස්කන්ධය කෝටි ප්‍රකෝටි ගණනකි. එහෙත් ඒ සියල්ලෙන්ම ජනනය කරන්නේ මෙගා වොට් 957ක විදුලි බලයකි.

මහවැලි ජල විදුලියෙන් අප රටට පමණක් නොව ඉන්දියාවටද විදුලි බලය විකුණන බවට එදා පාලකයෝ කයිවාරු ගැසුහ. මහවැලියෙන් සිදුවූ ඉඩම් විනාශය, පරිසර හානිය කියා නිම කල නොහැක. මහවැලියෙන් එළි කරන ලද කැලෑ භුමි ප්‍රමාණය පමණක් හෙක්ටයාර 256,000ක් පමණ වේ. මෑතකදී නිම කරන ලද මොරගහකන්ද නිසා සමහරවිට ඊටත් වැඩි විය හැක. අලි- මිනිස් ගැටුම පටන් ගත්තේ මහවැලිය නිසාය.  මහවැලිය නිසා ආදීවාසීහුනට ආගිය අතක් නැති විය.  ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලනයේ  මහා පරිමාණ මුදල් වංචා කිරීම්, කොමිස් ගැහිලි, පටන් ගැනුනේ මහවැලියෙනි.

මහවැලි හැර සෙසු ජල විදුලි බලාගාර වලින්ද නිපදවන්නේ කුඩා මෙගා වොට් විදුලි බලයකි – සමනල (124), කැනියන් (100), කුකුලේ ගඟ (80), ලක්ෂපාණ (75), මස්කෙළිය (60), කාසල්රි (50) සහ  නොර්ටන් (50).

ජල විදුලිබලාගාර එම ජල මුලාශ්‍රවල සිටින සතුන්ට ඉතා අහිතකරය. ජල විදුලි බලාගාර නිසා අවට ජලයේ ඔක්සිජන් ප්‍රමාණය අඩුවේ. මේ නිසා වන ජීවින් එම ජලයෙන් අතුරුදහන් වී යයි. ජල මුලාශ්‍ර මැදින් යොදන කොන්ක්‍රීට්/යකඩ බාධක නිසා මාළුනට වතුරේ නිදහසේ පීනා යා නොහැක. විශේෂයෙන්ම ඔවුන්ගේ අභිජනන කටයුතු වලට බාධා සිදුවේ.  පොල්ගොල්ල, වික්ටෝරියා සෑදීමට පෙර කටුගස්තොට, පේරාදෙණිය, ලේවැල්ල, නත්තරම්පොත, තෙල්දෙණිය වැනි ප්‍රදේශවල මහවැලි ගඟේ ජල මට්ටම සෑම විටම ඉහලටම පිරී තිබුන බවත්, මෝරුන් තරම් ලොකු මත්ස්‍යයන් පීනමින් සිටි බවත් පැරැන්නෝ පවසත්. අද තැන්නේකුඹුර පැත්තේ මහවැලි ගඟේ වතුර නොමැතිව කළු ගල් තට්ටු පෑදී ඇත.

ජල විදුලි බලාගාරයක් තනනවා කියා කැළණි ගඟේ කිතුල්ගල ‘white water rafting’ ජල ක්‍රීඩාව නවතන තැනට කටයුතු සිදු කෙරිණ. ජල ක්‍රීඩාව සඳහා ලෝකයේ ඇති හොඳම ස්ථානයකි මෙය.

ඩීසල් සහ LNG (තාප) විදුලි බලාගාර

අපට තාප විදුලිබල මධ්‍යස්‌ථාන කිහිපයක් තිබේ. මේවායින් ප්‍රාමාණික විදුලි බලයක් ජනනය කරගන්නෙමු. කැළණිතිස්ස (මෙගා වොට් 360), නව කැළණි තිස්ස (මෙගා වොට් 172) ඒවායින් ප්‍රධානය. නමුත් ඒවාට අවශ්‍ය ඉන්ධන වෙනුවෙන් අප වියදම් කරන්නේ ඉතාම අධික මුදලකි. අද ඩීසල් (ඩොලර්) නොමැති කමින් මේ තාප විදුලිබල මධ්‍යස්‌ථාන වසා දමන තත්ත්වයකට පත්වී ඇත.

කෙරවලපිටිය LNG බලාගාරය අපට මෙගා වොට් 300 ක විදුලි බලයක් සපයයි. මෙය සඳහා අවශ්‍ය වන ද්‍රවශීලී ගෑස් අප පිටරටින් ගෙන්වන්නේ ඉතාම අධික මිලකටය (පසුගිය රජයේ අමනෝඥ විදුලිබල  ප්‍රතිපත්තිය නිසා සාම්පුර්ණ වෙනුවට කෙරවලපිටිය ඉදිකරනු ලැබීය).

ගල් අඟුරු බලාගාර

තනි නොරොච්චෝලේන් පමණක් මෙගා වොට් 900ක්   ජනනය කරනු ලැබේ.  ගණනය කරන ලද සාම්පුර්හි ධාරිතාවය මෙගා වොට් 500කි. මෙය මෙගා වොට් 1,000කට පමණවත් වැඩි කර සාම්පුර් තැනීමට රජය කටයුතු කල යුතුය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විදුලි බල ප්‍රශ්නයට හොඳම විසඳුම ගල් අඟුරු වලින් ක්‍රියා කරන සාම්පුර් විදුලි බලාගාරය ගොඩනැගීම බව මෙම ලියුම්කරු අවධාරණයෙන් කියා සිටීයි. තවදුරටත් එම ආධාරය ඉන්දියාවෙන් ලැබෙදැයි අවිශ්වාසය; ශුර නායකයෝ මෙවන් ආධාර ලබාගන්නා හැටි දනිති.

ඒ කෙසේවෙතත්, අපේ වියදමින් හෝ කෙසේ හෝ  සාම්පුර් සදා ගනිමු. ඉන්පසු විදුලිය ගැන බියක් නැතිව රට වැසියන්ට ජීවත් වීමට ඉඩ ලැබෙනු ඇත. එය රජය ගැන ජනතාවගේ දැනට තිබෙන විශාල අප්‍රසාදය අඩු කර ගැනීමටද මඟක් වේ.

සාම්පුර් ලැබුණු පසු සාධාරණ මුදලට, ඕනෑතරම් විදුලි බලය තිබෙන නිසා, සීග්‍ර ආර්ථික දියුණුවක් ඇති වනු ඇත. ඉන්දියාවට කෙසේ වෙතත් මාලදිවයිනට හෝ අපට විදුලි බලය විකිනීමට හැකි වෙනු ඇත.

සාම්පුර් ගල් අඟුරු බලාගරයකින් රටේ විශාල විදුලි අතිරික්තයක් ඇති වනු ඇත. මේ අතිරික්ත විදුලිය ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දකුණු ආසියාවේ බිට් කොයින් කැනීමේ මධ්‍යස්ථානය බවට පත් කර ගැනීමට යොදවා ගත හැකි වනු ඇත (bitcoin mining). මේ මඟින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉතා ධනවත් රටක් බවට පත් කර ගත හැක.

නිෂ්පල අධිවේග වලට මුදල් වියදම් කරනවාට වඩා කලයුතු ව තිබුනේ සාම්පුර් වැනි අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය දේ සෑදීමයි. තවත් අත්‍යාවශ්‍යම  දෙයක් වනුයේ මහ නගරවල ද්‍රනේජ් මළාපවාහණ පද්ධති ඉදි කිරීමයි. එවිට නළ මඟින් වැසිකිලිවල මළාපවාහන කෙලින්ම නිවසින් ඉවතට බැහැරවේ; නිවෙස්වල වැසිකිලි වලවල් කැපීම අනවශ්‍යවේ. බොහෝ දියුණු රටවල ප්‍රධාන නගරවල පමණක් නොව පිටිසර ප්‍රදේශවල පවා ද්‍රනේජ් මළාපවාහන ක්‍රමයන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වේ.  මේ පහසුකම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ තිබෙන්නේ කොළඹ සහ යාපනය මහ නගර සභා ප්‍රදේශවල පමණි.

’climate change’

’climate change’ (දේශගුණික විපර්යාස) සංකල්පය යටතේ සාම්පුර් සාදනවාට විරුද්ධව යම් යම් බලපෑම් ජාත්‍යාන්තරයෙන් පැමිණිය හැක. සිරිසේන රජය සාම්පුර් නැවත්වුයේ මේ නිසාය. රටට ආදරය කරන නැණවත් නායකයෝ ජාත්‍යාන්තරයද ජය ගෙන මෙවැනි දේ ගොඩ නැගීමේ මඟ දනිති.

අද යුක්රේන් යුද්ධය නිසා ‘climate change’ විවාදය යට ගොසිනි. අද නව තෙල්, ගෑස්, ගල් අඟුරු ආකර සෙවීමේ කැනීම් වැඩියෙන්ම කරන්නේ ’climate change’ ගැන වැඩියෙන්ම කෑ ගසන රටවල්ය. ඇමරිකාව, කැනඩාව, නෝර්වේ, ඕස්ත්‍රේලියාව උදාහරණ වේ.

චීනය සහ ඉන්දියාව තවමත් නව ගල් අඟුරු බලාගාර හදති. ඔවුහු පුහු ජාත්‍යාන්තර තර්ජන වලට බය නැත. 2021 නොවැම්බර් වල ස්කොට්ලන්තයේ ග්ලාස්ගෝ වල පැවතී 26 වෙනි climate change සමුළුවේදී ඔවුහු ඒ බව යලි තීව්‍ර කළහ. එම රටවල් දෙක මෑතදී දියුණු වූ රටවල්ය; දියුණු වුයේ ගල් අඟුරු බලාගාර නිසාය. මෙය ලොව සියළු පොහොසත් රටවලට ද බලපෑ සිද්ධාන්තයකි.

‘global warming’ යන වචනය අසමත් වූ  පසු ඔවුහු ‘climate change’ කියා එය වෙනස් කර ගත්හ. ‘climate change’ අප රටට ඇත්තකි. අපිට ඇද හැලෙන දැවැන්ත වර්ෂාව, දැඩි නියං වලින් එය මනාව පෙනේ. මිට වසර පහකට එහා එවැනි දැඩි දේශගුණික විපර්යාස මෙරට සිදු නොවුණි.

නමුත්, ලෝකය තුල හුදු ෆොසිල් ෆියුඑල් දහනය නිසා වායුගෝලයේ CO2 ප්‍රතිශතය ඉහල යාමෙන්  ‘climate change’ සිදු වෙනවාය කියා ස්ථිරවම කියන්නේ කෙසේද? ස්වභාව ධර්මය විසින් කාලගුණ විපර්යාස අවුරුදු මිළියන ගණනක් තිස්සේ සිදු කර ඇත. ඉදිරියටත් සිදු කරනු ඇත. මේ දැන් සිදු වෙමින් පවතින ‘climate change’ ද එවැනි දෙයකි. සාම්පුර් සෑදුවා කියා මුළු ලෝකයේම ඌෂ්ණත්වය වැඩිවනු ඇතැයි සිතා බීය වෙන්නේ මෝඩ නායකයෝය.

චීනය, ඉන්දියාව (ලංකාව) වැනි රටවල් ගල් අඟුරු තාප බල ස්ථාන නිපදවා තම රටවල් දියුණු කරනවා දැකීමට බටහිර දියුණු රටවල් (විශේෂයන්ම මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය, යුරෝපය) අකමැතිය. එංගලන්තයේ, යුරෝපයේ අද ගල් අඟුරු ආකාර හිස්ය. ඒවායේ ගල් අඟුරු පාවිච්චි කර ඔවුහු ඉතා ධනවත් වුහ. ඔවුන්ගේ දැනට තිබෙන ගල් අඟුරු විදුලි බලාගාර ඔවුහු නොවසති, දිගටම පවත්වා ගෙන යති. නමුත් අපට ඒවා ඉදි නොකරන්නැයි ඔවුහු කියති. ඒ බොහෝ රටවල දැන් න්‍යාෂ්ටික  විදුලි බලාගාර ද ඇත.

අපට පඬි වදන් දෙන රටවල් කියන්නේ ඔවුන් නිපදවන අධි වියදම් වූ  සුළං, සොලාර් පැනල්, න්‍යාෂ්ටික බලාගාර, විදුලි ජෙනරේටර් ආදිය මිලදී ගන්න කියායි.   

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ න්‍යාෂ්ටික බලාගාර ඉදි කල යුතුයයි පසුගිය රජයේ එක් ඇමතිවරයෙක් මහ හඬක් නැගීය.  1986 චෙර්නෝබිල් න්‍යාෂ්ටික බලාගාර අනතුර මතක් වේ. එවිට, දැනෙන භීතීය අති මහත්ය.

ලෝක ඌෂ්ණත්වය ඉහල යන්නේ ගල් අඟුරු දහනය නිසා පමණක් නොවේ. තෙල්/ගෑස් දහනය, කැලෑ කැපීම නිසාද ලොව ඌෂ්ණත්වය ඉහල යයි.

ග්ලාස්ගෝ සමුළුවෙන් පසුවත් (යුක්රේන යුද්ධයට පෙර) ඇමරිකාව සහ කැනඩාව මහා පරිමාණයෙන් තම තෙල් ගවේෂක කටයුතු කළහ. ට්‍රම්ප් මෙම සමුළුවට කෙලින්ම විරුද්ධ විය.  රුසියාව, නෝර්වේ වැනි රටවල් ආර්ටික් කළාපයේ මුහුදු පත්ලද හාරා තෙල්,ගෑස් එලියට ගනිති. ඉදිරියටත් ගනු ඇත. සෞදි අරාබියාව, කුවේට්, ඕමාන් වැනි රටවල් බොර තෙල් නිපදවීම අඩු කිරීම වෙනුවට නිෂ්පාදනය තවත් වැඩි කරති. අන්තිම තෙල් බිංදුව දක්වා ඔවුන් භුමිය හාරනු ඇත. චීනය, ඇමරිකාව, ඕස්ත්‍රේලියාව තවදුරටත් ගල් අඟුරු නිපදවනු ඇත, විකුණනු ඇත. ඕස්ත්‍රේලියාව  අද ඉතා විශිෂ්ට ගනයේ clean coal නිපදවයි. බ්‍රසීලය සහ ඉන්දුනිසියාව අඩු මිලට ගල් අඟුරු විකුණන රටවල් වේ. යුක්රේන් යුද්ධය නිසා රුසියාවෙන් යුරෝපයට සපයන  ස්වභාවික ගෑස් අඩුව පියවීමට UAE ඉදිරිපත්ව සිටී. ඉරානයට සහ වෙනිසියුලාවට නැවත තෙල් අළෙවියට ඉඩ දීමට ඇමරිකාව සලකා බලමින් සිටී.

ග්ලාස්ගෝ සමුළුවෙහි වුනු පොරොන්දු රටවල් දැන් කඩති. නමුත් මීළඟ, 27වෙනි සමුළුවෙදී නැවතත් ඔවුන් එම පොරොන්දු ශපත කරනු ඇත. එය මේ සමුළුවල ඉතිහාසයයි. ජාත්‍යාන්තර නීතිය විහිළුවක් බව දන්නෝ දනිති.  

අප පමණක් ග්ලාස්ගෝ සමුළුවේ ප්‍රතිඥා අකුරටම පිළිපැදිය යුතුයයි සිතීම මෝඩ කමකි. ඉදිරි සමුළු වලටද  සහභාගී වෙමින්, රටවල් අතර සුහදතාවයද වර්ධනය කරමින්, අපි අපේ ගමන යමු.

දුප්පත් කමින් අන්තිම අඩියේම සිටින අප ලෝක ඌෂ්ණත්වය වැඩි වීම නතර කිරීම සඳහා සුළං මාපක සහ සෝලර් පැනල් මඟින් පමණක් අපේ ඉදිරි විදුලි බල ශක්තිය නිපදවා ගනිමු යයි වැනි වදන් ලෝකයා හමුවේ  කීමෙන් පලක් නැත. කෙසේ හෝ මේ අති දරිද්‍රතාවයෙන් උඩට ඒමයි අවශ්‍ය වනුයේ.  

‘climate change’ අද මුදල් උපයන ‘මාෆියාවක්’ බවට ද පත්ව ඇත. CNN, BBC, climate change සංකල්පය වවා ගෙන කන ආයතන දෙකකි. විකල්ප මතයක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට ඔවුහු කිසිම අවස්ථාවක් නොදෙති.

සාම්පුර් අත්‍යාවශ්‍යයි

සාම්පුර් ගල් අඟුරු බලාගාරය අපි කඩිනමින් හදමු (සාම්පුර්හි සුළං, සොලාර් නොවේ). සාම්පුර් නිසා යම් ජනතාවක් එම ප්‍රදේශයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමට අවශ්‍යවන්නේ නම් එසේ කලයුතු වේ. ඒ අයට හොඳින් වන්දි ලබා දිය යුතුය.

ethos8@bigpond.com

Premalal Mirihagalla

Refrain from anger, Act peacefully, This too will change.

Courtesy The Telegraph (UK)

Over 600 protesters arrested in Colombo for violating nationwide curfew

Defying curfew orders, lawmakers from Sri Lanka’s principal opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) on Sunday staged an anti-government protest here against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s move to impose a state of emergency and other restrictions amidst the worst economic crisis in the island nation.

A majority of Sri Lankans were unable to access social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram on Sunday after the Sri Lankan government decided to block them after they alleged that these were being used to organise demonstrations against the government.

NetBlocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and the governance of the Internet reported that real-time network data collected from over 100 vantage points across Sri Lanka showed restrictions coming into effect across multiple providers from midnight. We will protect #democracy in #SriLanka, opposition legislator Harsha de Silva said.

Opposition lawmakers marched towards Colombo’s Independence Square, chanting slogans and carrying placards that read: Stop Suppression and Gota go home. Police officials set up barricades leading up to the Independence Square, which was built to commemorate Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948.

Additionally, the Sri Lankan police on Sunday have arrested 664 persons in the country’s Western Province for violating the curfew, the Colombo Page newspaper reported. The arrests took place during an operation between 10 pm on Saturday night and 6 am this morning, the newspaper said, quoting police officials. They said that more operations were being carried out across the country to nab people violating the curfew, the report said.

The Sri Lankan government on Saturday imposed a 36-hour curfew as a nationwide public emergency has been enforced ahead of a planned anti-government rally over the worst economic crisis in the island nation that has hit the common man badly. The nation-wide curfew has been imposed with effect from 6 pm Saturday to 6 am Monday (April 4), the information department said.

President Rajapaksa has given the directive under the Public Security Ordinance regulations, it said. The move came as the island nation braced for country-wide protests on Sunday against the government’s poor handling of the ongoing economic crisis where people currently endure long hours of power outages and scarcity of essentials.

The imposition of curfew would prevent citizens from holding protests. Rajapaksa issued a special gazette notification late on Friday night, declaring a public emergency in Sri Lanka with immediate effect from April 1.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in history. With long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts the public have been suffering for weeks.

Rajapaksa has defended his government’s actions, saying the foreign exchange crisis was not his making and the economic downturn was largely pandemic driven where the island’s tourism revenue and inward remittances waning.

Over 600 protesters arrested in Sri Lanka for violating nationwide curfew

Over 6oo people were arrested in Sri Lanka’s Western Province on Sunday for violating a 36-hour nationwide curfew and trying to stage an anti-government rally to protest the country’s worst economic crisis.

Opposition lawmakers, led by their leader Sajith Premadasa, had set off on a march towards the iconic Independence Square in Colombo, defying a weekend curfew imposed by the government on Saturday, ahead of the planned protest for Sunday.

We are protesting the government’s abuse of the public security ordinance to deny the public’s right to protest, Premadasa said.

The protest was organised by social media activists against the ongoing economic crisis and hardships heaped on people due to shortages of essentials.

A total of 664 people were arrested in the Western Province on Sunday. A countrywide curfew was declared ahead of an Arab Spring style protest scheduled to be staged on Sunday, Colombo Gazette reported.

In an apparent move to block the planned protest, the Sri Lankan government imposed a 36-hour curfew on Saturday. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a special gazette notification late on Friday night, declaring a public emergency in Sri Lanka with immediate effect from April 1.

In another regulation after his action to impose a state of emergency which followed an order to impose a nationwide curfew, Rajapaksa said no one should come out and visit public places without permission during the curfew hours.

I consider that it is necessary to maintain public order in the areas .direct that no person shall be on any public road, railway, public park, public recreation ground or other public ground or the seashore in such areas from 1800 hour of April 2, 2022, to 0600 hours of April 4, 2022, except under the authority of a written permit granted, he said.

The government on Sunday barred gatherings and ordered internet service providers to restrict social media access, tightening curbs amid planned demonstrations calling for President Rajapaksa’s ouster over soaring living costs and a foreign exchange crisis.

The move to block social media platforms has come in for criticism from the government’s own ranks.

Dialog Telecom, a leading service provider, said access to Facebook, Messenger, YouTube, WhatsApp, Viber, Twitter, IMO, Instagram, Telegram, Snapchat and TikTok have been restricted.

Namal Rajapaksa, the sports minister and President Rajapaksa’s nephew, told reporters that the blockade was useless as many people would use VPNs to access social media sites.

The blockade came on a request from the defence ministry to the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

The government’s blockade of social media platforms forced top government information communications technology official Oshada Senanayake to resign.

I am sorry I could not do more but circumstances are such and as I always said I would vehemently stand by my principles and ethos I believe in, he tweeted.

The island nation is undergoing the worst economic crisis in history which has led to a severe shortage of food and fuel as the country it runs out of dollars to pay for imports. The public has been suffering for weeks with long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts.

Rajapaksa has defended his government’s actions, saying the foreign exchange crisis was not his making and the economic downturn was largely pandemic driven.

Courtesy ANI

Colombo (Sri Lanka), April 03 (ANI): The roads of Colombo on April 03 wore a deserted look following the imposition of the 36-hour Nationwide Curfew. The Nationwide Curfew has been declared by the Sri Lankan government ahead of an ‘Arab Spring’ style protest scheduled to be staged later in the day. Ahead of the planned protest, the island nation had declared a 36-hour curfew as the country faced a severe power crisis and rising inflation. 22 million citizens of the country are having a hard time dealing with blackouts for up to 13 hours a day as the government scrambles to secure foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports. Sri Lanka government has also imposed a nationwide social media blackout after midnight on April 03.

Courtesy The Week

He has been demanding an end to power outage

A 53-year-old man killed himself in front of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s house in Mirihana, even as the 36-hour curfew imposed in the country failed to deter protestors from venturing out and staging agitations.

According to media reports, the man killed himself by climbing on a transformer.

He has been demanding an end to the 13-hour long power cut imposed in the island nation.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in history. With long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts, the public has been suffering for weeks.

Despite the curfew imposed by the government, the protests are spiraling out of control in the country. The police have arrested 664 people in the Western Province for defying curfew and staging protests.

The Rajapaksas appear to be be clueless about how they can take the nation forward. The opposition lawmakers, led by their leader Sajith Premadasa, took out  a protest march to Independence Square in Colombo. 

ALSO READ

• Over 600 protesters arrested in Sri Lanka for violating nationwide curfew
• Kin of Lankan minister Namal Rajapaksa leave country: Report
• The Sri Lanka crisis has Indian Coast Guard on high alert
• Sri Lanka imposes nationwide social media blackout

Courtesy The Week

Amid continuing disenchantment with the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka, a media outlet reported on Sunday that relatives of a prominent minister had left the country.

Sri Lanka has been under curfew since Saturday as part of attempts by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa dispensation to prevent protests over the ongoing economic crisis.

The Daily Mirror reported on Sunday that the wife of minister Namal Rajapaksa, Limini, and her parents left Sri Lanka on Sunday morning. Namal Rajapaksa is the son of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is the older brother of Gotabaya.

Namal is the current Sri Lankan minister for youth and sports.

The Daily Mirror reported Limini Rajapaksa and her parents left the island for an undisclosed location, sources confirmed. It is unclear if the other two daughters in law of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa have also left the country.”

Over the past week, there has been speculation that the Rajapaksa clan could flee Sri Lanka amid rising public anger over the economic crisis.

Interestingly, Namal Rajapaksa had criticised the government’s decision to block social media services. He told reporters on Sunday that the social media blockade was useless as many people would use VPNs to access social media sites. The government lifted the ban on social media by Sunday afternoon following criticism in other countries.

Meanwhile, over 6oo people were arrested in Western Province on Sunday for violating the 36-hour nationwide curfew and trying to stage an anti-government rally to protest against the country’s worst economic crisis.

Opposition lawmakers, led by their leader Sajith Premadasa, had set off on a march towards the iconic Independence Square in Colombo.

Colombo Gazette reported police fired teargas and water cannons on protesters near the Peradeniya University, about 110km from Colombo, on Sunday.

Air India flights

Air India on Sunday said it will reduce its India-Sri Lanka services from 16 flights per week currently to 13 flights per week from April 9 due to poor demand.

Currently AI is operating 16 flights a week—daily flights from Delhi and nine flights a week from Chennai,” an Air India spokesperson told PTI.

In the new schedule, AI will be operating a total of 13 flights per week, the spokesperson noted.

In the new schedule, while the frequency from Chennai will remain untouched, flights from Delhi will reduce from seven to four per week, the spokesperson said.

Four flights from Delhi instead of seven effective April 9 due to poor loads,” the spokesperson noted.

AI 283 on the Delhi-Colombo sector will now operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from April 8 to May 30.

AI 284 on the Colombo-Delhi sector will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from April 9 to May 31.

(With PTI inputs)

ALSO READ

• The Sri Lanka crisis has Indian Coast Guard on high alert
• Sri Lanka imposes nationwide social media blackout
• 40,000 MT diesel from India reaches crisis-hit Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka imposes 36-hour curfew amid protests over economic crisis

Courtesy TRTWorld

Sri Lankan forces moved to stop a protest by opposition lawmakers and supporters attempting to march to the capital’s Independence Square from the home of opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.

Armed troops in Sri Lanka have blocked an opposition protest march staged in defiance of an emergency curfew to protest the island nation’s worsening economic crisis.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Sri Lanka’s main opposition alliance, denounced a social media blockade imposed on Sunday to quell intensifying public demonstrations, and said it was time for the government to tender its resignation.

There was a heavy presence of troops in the capital as the curfew was strictly enforced.

Overnight, however, hundreds defied the curfew and staged small demonstrations in various Colombo neighbourhoods and dispersed peacefully, police and residents said.

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp were among the platforms shut down Sunday on the orders of defence authorities, internet service providers told their subscribers.

Private media outlets reported that the chief of Sri Lanka’s internet regulator resigned after the order went into effect.

The South Asian island nation is facing severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials, along with sharp price rises and crippling power cuts, in its most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa imposed a state of emergency on Friday, the day after a crowd attempted to storm his home in the capital Colombo, and a nationwide curfew is in effect until Monday morning.

READ MORE: Sri Lankans try to storm leader’s home in protests over economic crisishttps://www.youtube.com/embed/5MQC1nbI9VI?enablejsapi=1&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.trtworld.comSource: TRTWorld and agencies

Courtesy News18

In Fake Whatsapp Forward, Sri Lanka’s Left Radical JVP Claims Indian Army Arrived in Colombo, Govt Denies
https://www.news18.com/news/world/in-fake-whatsapp-forward-sri-lankas-left-radical-jvp-claims-indian-army-arrived-in-colombo-govt-denies-4937102.html

Shenali D Waduge

Sri Lanka is faced with an economic crisis. The people are facing many economic & cost of living difficulties. The people blame the government for keeping them in the dark (pun intended) & not managing the situation which their advisors/consultants would have had foreknowledge about. So the blame game has led to everyone blaming each other but no one looking for solutions. The only solutions being applied without much opposition has been to run to countries for loans in exchange for compromising parts of Sri Lanka together with their resources & assets. These have had little or no opposition because cost of living difficulties has been weighed down on people, making it difficult for them to oppose & having to think of their families before country. Thus, the deals have had good planning bringing the country to a situation where it has no power to dictate terms. But, it appears taking over strategic assets is not enough & the aim is to continue further anarchy. At this stage we must be able to understand how far our leaders have compromised themselves to external forces, who now dictate what they say & do. In this scenario we must now look at what unfolded on 31^st March 2022 & likely future scenarios too.

Yes, Sri Lankans are faced with power cuts, gas fuel, diesel, food, milk powder shortages

Yes, Children are unable to study

Yes, shops & offices cannot function because of power cuts

Yes, productivity has reduced because people cannot work

& Yes, people have a right to protest 

But No, people have no right to vandalize or attack property (public or private) 

Anyone carrying stones is not a peaceful protestor

Anyone carrying some form of item used to attack is no peaceful protestor

How many carried such items?

This is where the problem lies.

There have been plenty of peaceful public protests with no involvement of political parties.

These peaceful public protests saw people holding placards & voicing their displeasure in print & via voice cuts. It was totally a people’s protest & it should have remained so. Then came politicians and when a protest involves politicians it only means trouble. Political protests essentially are politically motivated & end up attacking their political opponents using people & their difficulties as camouflage.

On 31^st March 2022, people gathered to protest directly to the President against the cost of living. This escalated into stone throwing & burning of police vehicles which arrived at the scene. Were these by government organized teams or by opposition teams or by others is what the authorities need to find out.

But if we take a look at the Arab Springs or Coloured Revolutions that have taken place elsewhere around the world, we should realize that there is definitely foreign hands involved.

It may be some group inside the government, who are planted to embarrass the government.

It may be some group inside the opposition, who wishes to embarrass the govt or even the opposition.

It may be a totally new group, now calling the shots leaving everyone baffled as to what their next plans are.

All that we should be aware of is that, certainly people have every right to protest & they should protest outside every Ministers home demanding end to their corrupt ways, but the danger comes when these peaceful protests are quickly turned into violent ones by people who pretend to be peaceful protestors & wait for an opportune time to stir trouble. In so doing, they take away the democratic right of people to protest because the violence they create, result in the government having no choice but to declare emergency to protect property. Some would say the government can be doing this to enforce stricter measures, yes, even this is possible, but whatever or whoever organizes the chaos, it unfortunately denies the people getting their message across & denies the people getting answers to their valid questions. Essentially, what we need to understand is that external parties who steer Government & Opposition are also able to steer public opinion & make them all think and do as these external parties want them to.

Today, we can do nothing of national interest without international players poking their nose to stop it.

Who recalls political revolt in Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria?

What was common to all of these ‘regime change’ programs? Externally orchestrated People’s Protests and calling for ‘transition’

Who remembers Tahrir Square?

What was the outcome of these Public Protests?

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed by Houthi rebels

Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is now living in Saudi Arabia

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned after a crackdown on protests that killed more than 800 protestors & was sentenced to life in prison & died in 2020.

Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi was killed by ‘protestors’ who were imported

Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad remains still President as west-sponsored regime change failed in Syria.

Arab Spring began across the Middle East & North Africa from December 2010. All were Anti-Government protests commencing in Tunisia. It was also called Pro-Democratic Protests which gave a clue as to who the organizers were. We know how these countries delivered democracy to Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan & Kosovo.

All it took to start the Tunisian Arab Spring was a police attack on a street vendor who killed himself. From Tunisia the demonstrations led to Bahrain where protestors demanded release of political prisoners, then on to Jordan & Kuwait whose parliament was dissolved due to public pressure.

The very political, social & economic issues we suffer, were exactly what engulfed the countries victim of Arab Spring. Inspite of our perception of oil rich middle east – people were struggling due to declining oil prices, high unemployment & corruption among political elites.

The innovations associated with these foreign choregraphed revolts are many – “activists” suddenly disappear, this enables to plug other destabilizing elements into the scene, blowing hot & cold & this multiprong attack will tap into other local mischief makers as well. The usual culprits will all come out imposing their views on the general public easily influenced by social media. We saw this happen during the 2015 “system change” and we are again seeing same where the then victims are now the new victims. Thus, there are no favorites in the scheme of things. There are no permanent friends – only permanent interests.

It’s been a decade since the Arab Spring when people revolted against ‘dictatorial’ regimes. So how are these countries now that they have got rid of the ‘despots’?

The dictators have been replaced by Islamic State. Millions have been driven from their homes & anti-immigrant issues engulf Europe as a result of influx of refugees. Poverty has got worse, unemployment is higher & more are getting imprisoned for their political beliefs.

The Arab Spring failed. It did not deliver political freedom primarily because it was organized for different reasons, not to actually deliver political freedom. The people were merely bait & wooed into being the foot soldiers of the plan.

It is important that we understand that external parties who want to get a foot hold into strategic countries wish to only work with the corrupt. If leaders are not corrupt – corrupt deals don’t get pushed through. They remove leaders only when they don’t tow the line. All those who do, however corrupt they are, will be kept in power. We should understand the dynamics of how the game is played.

What about the protestors – many of those who were inspired to revolt are suffering physical ailments having to treat their wounds with their own funds. No one comes forward to spend for them. They were used & now they face greater calamities.

The Libyans will vouch for above – they got rid of a man who gave them so much for free & now they repent. But a little too late.

“We didn’t achieve anything we aimed for. Things got worse. We believed we could change the system. But it is so rotten that it can’t be changed” (Esraa Eltaweel – 28 partially paralyzed Egyptian) – systems can be changed but the real people who control all world systems will not allow it. In many of these Arab Spring successful countries – the people are left to eat “democracy” and be happy. 

The system creates the corrupt & corruptions needs to exist & the corrupt are only inter-changed through ‘Arab Spring” like revolts. One group funded both sides of every war. This meant they were happy to fund anarchy even in present times.  This is what we need to understand.

Unfortunately, peaceful protests are a sign of people taking over the power they have outsourced to their representatives. The representatives (in Govt & Opposition) & their handlers see this as a threat to their control & monopoly over us as they wish to be the one’s speaking & acting on behalf of us & do not wish the people to take back the powers people have given to them. Thus, they quickly galvanize to protect their turf which they are happy to inter-change every election. Yo-Yo politics is not helping the people in any part of the world.

This is why whether it is govt or opposition – either side do not favour peaceful protests as these only expose their lack of leadership, inability to lead & poor governance. Both govt & opposition are united in the need to ensure the people remain in the dark forever.

Shenali D Waduge

Courtesy Adaderana

An island-wide curfew will be imposed at 6.00pm today (April 02), the Department of Government Information announced. 

The curfew order will be effective until 6.00am on Monday (April 04).

The move comes days after the mass protest staged on Pengiriwatte Road in Mirihana on Thursday evening (March 31).

The demonstration commenced near the Jubilee Post in Nugegoda at around 7.30 p.m. and later proceeded towards Pengiriwatta Mawatha, leading to the presidential residence in Mirihana.

People had thronged in large numbers holding placards and shouting slogans and demanding that the government provide immediate solutions to the fuel shortage, power crisis, gas shortage, and soaring commodity prices in the country.

Later in the night, the police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters gathered near the Pengiriwatta Mawatha.

The riot police resorted to using tear gas and water cannons on the protesters as the agitation turned violent with some people hurling stones and other objects at security personnel, causing damage to public property.

More than 50 people were taken into custody following the protest, and at least 40 of them have been placed under remand custody. Six were granted bail yesterday.

Meanwhile, it is reported that mass protests are expected in many parts of the island tomorrow (April 03) as people are planning to take to the streets.

Courtesy Adaderana

A total of 21 people who were arrested over the protest at Pengiriwatte Road, Mirihana yesterday have been produced before the Gangodawila Magistrate’s Court today.

According to Ada Derana correspondent, 15 of them were granted bail while six others were placed under remand custody until the 04th of April.

Courtesy AdaDerana

A Gazette Extraordinary has been published declaring a public emergency in Sri Lanka with effect from today (April 01).

The communiqué was issued by presidential secretary Gamini Senarath, under the directives of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Public emergency is declared in the interests of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community as it is expedient, the gazette read.

The Head of State declared public emergency by virtue of the powers vested in him by Section 2 of the Public Security Ordinance (Chapter 40), as amended by Act, No. 8 of 1959, Law No. 6 of 1978 and Act, No.28 of 1988.

Courtesy Ada Derana

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has decided to urge President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to form a caretaker government after holding discussions with all political parties.

The decision was taken at the SLFP’s central committee meeting convened for nearly three hours on Friday (April 01) at the party headquarters, amidst the rolling power interruptions.

Speaking to the media following the meeting, SLFP’s Senior Vice President Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa said all central committee members have unanimously voiced their displeasure on continuing to be in the government.

He said the central committee decided to let the party leader, former President Maithripala Sirisena to take a decision in this regard.
Meanwhile, SLFP leader Maithripala Sirisena told the media that the party intends to hand over a letter to the President detailing its stance and requests pertaining to the current situation.

State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara said the SLFP members would be compelled to step down from their ministerial portfolios if the government fails to take necessary actions.

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරක හා සත්කාරක අංශයේ වෘත්තීන් සඳහා මෙරට ජනතාවගේ කුසලතා සංවර්ධන කර රැකියා වෙත යොමු කිරීමේ අරමුණින්  නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන, පර්යේෂණ නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු රජයේ සහයෝගය ඇතිව  කුසලතා සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතියක් (S4IG) ආරම්භ කෙරිණ.

S4IG ව්‍යාපෘතියේ පළමු අදියරය 2017 වසරේ සිට 2021 වසරතෙක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ අතර එහි දෙවන අදියරය සඳහා ඊයේ දින (31)  රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් දීපා ලියනගේ මැතිණිය සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු මහා කොමසාරිස් ඩේවිඩ් හෝලි මහතා අතර අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කෙරිණ. ඒ අනුව මෙම ගිවිසුම යටතේ ඕස්ට්‍රේලියානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 12ක ප්‍රතිපාදන තාක්ෂණ ආධාර වශයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නිපුණතා සංවර්ධනය සඳහා හිමිවෙනු ඇත.

දෙවන අදියරයේ දී ක්ෂුද්‍ර, කුඩා, මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ ව්‍යවසායක ඵලදායිතාව සහ වර්ධනයට අදාළව කුසලතා සංවර්ධනය කරමින් නිපුණතා සැපයීම ශක්තිමත් කිරීමේ වැඩසටහන් ක්‍රියාත්මක කෙරේ. තවද, පළමු අදියරය තුළ දී අවිධිමත් වෘත්තීය හා තාක්‍ෂණික පුහුණුවක් සහිත පුද්ගලයින්ටත් විශේෂයෙන් කාන්තාවන්ට සහ ආබාධ සහිත පුද්ගලයින්ට සංචාරක හා සත්කාරක අංශයේ අවස්ථා සලසා දීමේ වැඩසටහන් ක්‍රියාත්මක විය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශ අතිරේක ලේකම් මුදිතා මල්කාන්ති මැතිණිය, දසිත නිරෝෂන් මහතා (අධ්‍යක්ෂ), S4IG ව්‍යාපෘතිය සමඟ සම්බන්ධ ඕස්ට්‍රේලියානු රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් ඇතුළු පිරිසක් සහභාගී වූහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය
—

ජයන්ත හේරත් 

මේ

අලුත් අවුරුදු මාසයයි

කා

බී

නටා

විනෝද

වෙන කාලයයි.

ජනගහනයෙන්

50% ක්

පීඩිත පන්තියය.

මිලියන් 11 ය.

එක්කෙනෙකුට

අවුරුද්දකට

ලක්ෂය බැගින්

මුළු මහත්

පීඩිත පන්තියටම

දුන්නත් යන්නේ

රුපියල්

ලක්ෂ මිලියන් 11 කි.

ට්‍රිලියන 1.1 ය.

ඇමරිකන්   

වියදම් පනත

ඩොලර් ට්‍රිලියන 1.5 කි.

මේ මාසේ

අවුරුදු

පාස්කු

රමසාන්

සැමරීමට  

සඳහා

මාසෙකට එක්කෙනෙකුට

රුපියල් 8333 කි.

ලබන මාසේ

වෙසක් සැමරීම සඳහා

මාසෙකට එක්කෙනෙකුට

රුපියල් 8333 කි.

අච්චු ගහන්න.

බෙදන්න.

මේ

අපි දකින්නේ 1965-77 කාලයේ

ආර්ථිකයේ

පුනර්ධාවනයක්ය.

වෙනසකට ඇත්තේ

දැන් අපි ජීවත් වන්නේ

fully-connected  ලෝකයකය

globalized ලෝකයකය

100% ට විදුලිය තිබේ

100% ට විදුලි සංදේශ දුර කතන පහසුව  තිබේ

ඇති-ධාවනකාරී auto-bahn මහා මාර්ග තිබේ.

අලුත් වාහන තිබේ.

අත් දකින්නේ

ආර්ථික සන්වර්දනයේ

ප්‍රතිවිපාකය.

සාමයේ ප්‍රතිවිපාකය.

අවුරුද්දකට

මාසයක් දෙකක්

මේ

සුඛෝපභෝගය

නැතුව

ජීවිතය ගත කිරීමට

නව පරම්පරා

පුරුදු පුහුණු කල යුතුය.

අලුයම සිට සවස දක්වා

ඍජු හිරු එළියෙන් මාසයක් දෙකක්

රෑ

හඳ තරු එළියෙන්

ජීවත් වීම කල හැක.

මේ මාසය

නිරාහාරව සිටීමේ

මුස්ලිම් ශුද්ධ වූ

මාසයයි.

විදුලිය

දුර කතන 

ඉන්ධන

ආහාර හෝ ජලය

නොමැතිව සිටීම

අවුරුදු පතා

ප්‍රගුණ කල යුතු

මහඟු

ගුණාංගයකි.

සියලු දෙනාම

නොකා

නොබී

නිහතමානීව

ශීල

භාවනා

කරනවා නම්

ඉර්ධියෙන්

දිව්‍ය බ්‍රහ්ම ලෝක වෙත

ශක්‍ර භවන වෙත

උනත්

High-ways නොමැතිව

යා හැකි බව

ආගමේ උගන්නයි.

සාමය සමගිය

පැතිර යනු ඇත.

රට කල් පවතින ලෙස

පොහොසත්ව 

සිටීමට

නම්

සුරක්ෂිත කළ යුතුය.

රටේ 

ශක්තිමත් යුධ

හමුදාව 

ජාතික අවශ්‍යතා

ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට

සහ

ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීමට

ආක්‍රමණශීලී ලෙස භාවිතා කිරීමට

හැමවිටම 

සූදානමින්

සීරුවෙන්

සිටිය

යුතුය.

සියලු සංස්කාරයෝ අනිත්‍යය.  තාවකාලිකය  යනු නියතයයි.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

• Basil Rajapaksa needs to execute the US agenda 
• Not everybody who gives us loans is an imperialist force 
• This crisis will unite people together to form a different mandate 
• The JVP appears to be an attractive party prior to an election
• Neither the SJB nor JVP could show a new direction to the people 
• We have been executing a model where senior generations take loans and prosper while younger generations have to sacrifice their future
• If there’s a certain kind of extremism within the Sinhala community we will stand against that as well

National Freedom Front Leader Wimal Weerawansa recently claimed that he would ensure that the government would soon lose its majority. He made this statement weeks after the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government sacked him and Udaya Gammanpila for criticising Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa as the main reason behind the prevailing crisis in the country and while even going to the extent of calling him the ‘ugly American’. Weerawansa played a pivotal role in forming the incumbent government and is infamous for his hunger strikes that were staged against ‘imperialist forces’. In a candid interview with the Daily Mirror, Weerawansa spoke about Basil Rajapaksa and his ulterior motives, his intention of promoting nationalist ideologies and the failures on the part of the President while hinting at what they intend to do in the near future. 

Excerpts: 

 Q   The country has plunged into a severe crisis and you continue to blame Basil Rajapaksa. But he was appointed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa. Shouldn’t all Rajapaksas be blamed for this situation?

They are collectively responsible. But everybody who ruled the country has also contributed. We have been executing a model where senior generations take loans and prosper while younger generations have to sacrifice their future. This model doesn’t suit this country. Crises can happen. But the incumbent government doesn’t manage the crisis nor does it have a plan to control it. I also believe that Basil Rajapaksa has a different political agenda at this point.

 Q   What sort of agenda are you talking about?

While people languish in fuel and gas queues they forget about other issues. The entire country becomes a victim of the crisis and it could be used to fulfill their agendas that couldn’t have been executed under normal circumstances. For example if they want to give away a company to India they can do that in this situation. They can ink agreements and deals with other countries because people are too occupied to raise their voices against these deals. Upon his retirement, Basil Rajapaksa will return to US and he needs to ensure that he activates the US agenda beforehand.

 Q   This government sought loans from India and China and did currency swaps with Bangladesh etc. Don’t you think that these too are ‘imperialist forces’?

We won’t say that everybody who gives us loans is an imperialist force. Japan has given us more loans than China. But we won’t say that Japan has an ulterior motive of colonizing this country. Some give loans in the form of a business and some others give loans to spread their dominance. We need to distinguish between both of these factors when we deal with them. 

 Q   You have been promoting nationalist ideologies even when you were a member of the People’s Liberation Front (JVP). Do you think that we have been able to establish peace and reconciliation as a result of the spread of nationalism?

We are nationalist because our love towards this country is the main priority. We are ready to fight against any force in the event of prejudice. But we have no intention of creating any differences between Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Christians/Catholics. We stood against separatist agendas executed by the LTTE and we are against Islam extremism. If there’s a certain kind of extremism within the Sinhala community we will stand against that as well. 

 Q   But wasn’t President Gotabaya Rajapaksa elected by a majority of Sinhala-Buddhist votes?

It was not only Sinhala-Buddhist votes. There were votes from Tamils, Muslims and other ethnicities as well. But since the majority of the population is Sinhala Buddhist its members cast their votes in favour of him.

 Q   Will the Rajapaksa clan be elected to power by a Sinhala-Buddhist voter base again?

The Easter Sunday attack put people in all ethnicities in a state of shock. Thereafter people wanted a ruler who would establish national security and people thought Gotabaya Rajapaksa was eligible for this task. This is how the mandate grew to 6.9 million votes. Everybody irrespective of ethnicity felt insecure and people looked for a leader who could make them feel secure. But whether he stood by the people’s mandate or not is a different story. But whatever happens once doesn’t get repeated. Today we’re facing an economic crisis that is aggravating to a political crisis. A solution to the economic crisis will favour people in all ethnicities. Therefore this crisis will unite people together and will create a different mandate.

 Q   Do you think this is a Sinhala-Buddhist country?

Yes. It is a country that has been fed by Buddhism. King Dutugemunu declared war against Elara in order to protect the Dhamma and this country. This Dhamma has been a relief to all people. When Portuguese converted Dutch into their religion, it was the temples that provided them with shelter to hold their services. Nowhere in Buddhism does it say that there should be differences among people or to ill-treat someone of another faith. Historically, we have been a Sinhala-Buddhist nation and it hasn’t affected this country in any way. In the US for example, they swear in someone to a new position after taking oaths on the Bible. But in Sri Lanka there’s no rule to take oaths on any book of Buddhist philosophy or teachings. That shows we’re more progressive than those countries.

 Q   Are you trying to say that people will not vote for the Rajapaksas again?

I don’t think there’ll be any point in them (Rajapaksas) contesting for an election again. The detrimental impact caused by Basil Rajapaksa’s interventions has shattered the trust among people. Therefore people will hardly vote for any Rajapaksa again, given the circumstances. 

 Q   People loved Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s persona. But today people are cursing them in public. Any comments?

This is something they should think for themselves. People are aware that this crisis hasn’t been created by just one regime. Besides, the prevailing global economic crisis has an impact on smaller economies like that of Sri Lanka. There are gas shortages in US as well. Therefore people expect the leader to resolve the crisis with minimum impact. Anybody could have foreseen a forex crisis and in that case they should have been prepared around 10 months ago. The highest amount of imports in record history of Sri Lanka was recorded during last November. The highest amount of tar to be used for the 100,000 km highway project was imported last month. People are deprived of essential medicines, fuel and gas, but they import tar instead! Such shortsighted decisions have been heavily criticized by the public. 

 Q   We saw how the government handled the COVID burials issue for instance. Last year, the government was adamant that bodies need to be cremated and earlier this year they lifted the ban on COVID burials. Wasn’t this done with an ulterior nationalist motive?

There of course we listened to the Muslim community and decided to bury bodies at a faraway place. I don’t think there was an issue. There are instances where we need to arrange a mechanism to continue what they have been doing in their respective faiths rather than providing solutions in an aggressive manner. We shouldn’t come into conflict with their faiths and beliefs. 

 Q   Who was instrumental in taking these decisions?

The fact that Gotabaya Rajapaksa didn’t have any background in politics was an advantage to him. Therefore, we thought he would work in sync with other politicians and take decisions thereafter. The brothers may be having their own discussions. Implementing 100% organic fertiliser usage was a serious decision. But this had to be done after a thorough research on commercial agriculture, consider the impacts, educate farmers and execute accordingly. I don’t believe that we can become a nation that fully thrives on organic fertiliser. But this decision was taken during the COVID lockdown period where not even 10 people could attend a meeting. There was no way of communicating these strategies to the farmers. The agriculture officers couldn’t travel due to restrictions. So would you take a decision during such a challenging period? Some decisions have been taken without any discussion whatsoever and important decisions that need to be given priority have been ignored. This is something we didn’t expect.

 Q   Why are you supporting a government that sacked you?

I am not supporting the government. We are being called 11 Partner alliances of the government and we still haven’t gotten rid of the partner label as yet. But we will get rid of it soon along with a few others. It’s just a matter of time.

 Q   But even though you claimed that you will not be present at the All Party Conference, one of the ‘partnering alliances’ participated in it. Your comments?

They had already decided to participate in it despite the decision taken by the 11 parties. So it was their democratic right to participate in it and we didn’t question them further. 

 Q   The punch line of this government was establishing national security, but it has failed to apprehend perpetrators of the Easter Sunday carnage. What are your thoughts?

The Yahapalana Government appointed a committee to probe into the incident and they produced a report. A cabinet paper was later issued with recommendations of this report and it was signed by the President. But to date, none of these has been implemented and he is not aware of it either. There were no progress review meetings or anything of that sort. Except for the cases that are still being heard, there were no impactful decisions taken regarding this matter. 

 Q   People seem to be showing an interest towards your former party, the JVP or rather the National People’s Power as it is now being called. Do you have any intention of joining them again?

Not at all. 

 Q   What are your observations regarding their progress?

The JVP appears to be an attractive party prior to an election. But the extent of their attractiveness can be witnessed when counting votes after the election. During the days of comrade Rohana Wijeweera they had a strategic plan. But they shifted directions thereafter. If product positioning goes wrong there’s no way of marketing the product. The JVP’s product positioning went so wrong that they even tried to form an alliance with Ranil Wickremesinghe. 

 Q   Political critics claim that the fact that you and Udaya Gammanpila left the government is something similar to rats escaping a sinking ship. What are your comments?

Not at all. The ship in 2015 was also sinking and it prompted Champika Ranawaka and his people to leave. We are not the kind to escape sinking ships. In fact we were thrown out. When there were no internal discussions we exposed the details and in turn they sacked us. We are the type to remain if the ship’s captain went to unimaginable extents to save the ship from sinking. We have been instrumental in reviving the JVP when it was going on all fours. But if the captain and the crew are allowing the ship to sink then there’s no point in staying back. 

 Q   Some also claim that you and Udaya Gammanpila robbed the Opposition of their role and that this is a political conspiracy. Your thoughts?

The government is engaging in a sinful act of aggravating the crises and burdening people further. Since we have taken the frontline in forming this government we have a duty to raise our voices against these actions and put it back on track. But as a result we are not with the government. We now have a responsibility to show a new direction to the public and I don’t think either the Samagi Jana Balawegaya or the JVP could do that. 

 Q   There are many Rajapaksa family members involved in active politics and many more are in line to be elected to power. Do you plan to have any deals with them in future?

No, that chapter is over. 

 Q   You said that you will deprive the government of its 113 majority. How do you intend to do this?

Just wait and see.

 Q   Will you contest at a future presidential election?

I haven’t thought about that as yet. I don’t do politics with such expectations. But if I get the opportunity, I know how it should be done in a proper way. 

For example if they want to give away a company to India they can do that in this situation. They can ink agreements and deals with other countries because people are too occupied to raise their voices against these deals. Upon his retirement, Basil Rajapaksa will return to US”

Japan has given us more loans than China. But we won’t say that Japan has an ulterior motive of colonizing this country. Some give loans in the form of a business and some others give loans to spread their dominance. We need to distinguish between both of these factors when we deal with them

By Namini Wijedasa Courtesy The Sunday Times

Even China, which avoids commenting on Sri Lanka’s internal matters, raised the issue at the highest levels in private and in public

Central Expressway third section

The Highways Ministry is barreling through the controversial bid to award part of the Central Expressway Project’s (CEP III) third section to a local consortium at a price higher by US$ 822mn (Rs 238.5bn) than its competing bid.

The details are so guarded that meetings of the Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee (CANC)—at which stage the project now is, following appraisal by the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC)—are oddly held at the Ministry of Labour and not at the Highways Ministry. And not all members are invited. The last such discussion was held on Friday. The Labour Ministry Secretary heads the CANC.

The offer from a recently formed local consortium named LIDC to build the CEP III stretch from Rambukkana to Galagedara has the backing of Highways Minister Johnston Fernando, construction industry sources said. But the bid is priced at US$ 1.87bn (Rs 542.6bn) which is significantly higher than the offer made by China’s Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) at US$ 1.05bn (Rs 304.6bn).

The Meerigama to Kurunegala section of the Central Expressway was opened in January this year

The price difference is 56.17 percent, more than half what MCC has offered. The LIDC is led by Access International (Pvt) Ltd. The values have exploded since the Sunday Times last reported this story on March 6, 2022—the rupee was fully floated against the dollar four days later.

The process is so murky that China, which religiously avoids commenting on Sri Lanka’s internal matters, raised the matter at the highest levels in private and, this week, in public.

At a packed press conference in Kingsbury Hotel, Chinese Ambassador in Colombo, Qi Zhenhong, said (through an interpreter) that, As for building of the third phase of the Central Expressway by the Chinese company, I believe that, as long as the Sri Lankan Government adopts a method that is open and equitable, and treats all the bidders the same way, I believe that this issue could be solved in a very proper way.”

Mr Qi also referred to suspension of a Chinese proposal to build three hybrid power plants on islands in the North, amidst widespread uncontested reports that it was blocked by security concerns raised by neighbouring India. He said there are Chinese companies here that complain to me we have got unfair treatment in Sri Lanka”.

All the procedures are in accordance with international bidding procedures (but) the project, for some unknown reasons, is interrupted,” he continued. I have already raised these kinds of issues to our Sri Lankan friends because we feel this is not good for Sri Lanka to attract international investment and this is not good for you to show a good business environment.”

In the past, however, Chinese companies got preferential treatment, clinching multiple projects through ‘unsolicited proposals’ with competitive bidding suspended in their favour. This was most common under the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa where proposals were only brought to cabinet for ritual rubber-stamping. There were no price evaluations against competing bids and no room for objection. Currently, there are complaints that China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) has been handpicked for the proposed elevated highway from Rajagiriya to Athurugiriya.

The process related to CEP III is, however, so blatantly skewed, that it has become impossible to ignore the implications–particularly in terms of national debt. It is a non-urgent, capital-intensive mega project.

On March 4, tweeting about the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL) eight point policy package, even Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal called for a postponement of non-essential and non-urgent capital projects. But in addition to Minister Fernando’s backing, the project is being pushed at higher levels, the Sunday Times learns. The objective is for it to be finalised before any International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme is entered into.

In keeping with a complete lack of transparency, the Government has not explained why the financial proposal from MCC was not opened. This was questioned by MCC’s parent company, MCC International Incorporation Ltd, which wrote to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa alleging there were irregularities in the manner LIDC was selected.

It said there had been just two bids of which MCC’s was the only foreign offer. We MCCI have now reliably understood that when it came to opening of the Financial Proposals, only the Financial Proposal of the Local Consortium, LIDC was opened,” the letter said.

It is customary in a democratic procurement evaluation either open both offers or reject the single offer as examination of just one offer does not facilitate price comparison,” it adds, hinting strongly at bid-rigging.

The Highways Ministry called tenders on July 2021 from local and international companies. The bidding format was ‘single state two-envelope’ with the second envelope containing the financial proposal.

On January 16, Minister Fernando presented a Cabinet paper in which he recommended that the original tender process should be terminated and canceled” on the basis that finalization of foreign concession agreements and financing will get delayed. The same memo states that the relevant section of CEP III can be built with Rs 82bn.

But 10 days later, on January 17, he presented another Cabinet paper recommending that the original tender process be proceeded with. He makes no reference to his earlier Cabinet memo and calls for the awarding of the bid to be accelerated.

Highways Ministry sources said the Minister has also pressurised the CANC to have meetings one after the other” so that the contract can speedily be awarded. The LIDC will finance the project through local banks.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Edward Gunawardena pointed out that terrorism in the north started in the early 1970s. The insurgency in the north parallels the JVP insurgency in the south, said analysts. Both insurgencies probably had the same external influence, and that influence probably was USA.

Edward Gunawardena  observed that In May 1972, militant youths tried to topple a key high-tension electricity tower and also kidnap the children of a Tamil cabinet minister, Chelliah Kumarasuriyar.( Island 18.7.21 p 12  ). in 1975 Alfred Duraiappah was assassinated by a group which included  Prabhakaran.. Duraiappah had a significant vote bank among the Sinhalese, Muslims, the business community and the urban poor of Jaffna.

These militant youth groups engaged in many criminal activities in the north. There were many bank robberies and attacks on businesses in Jaffna in the 1970s. There were robberies of banks, co-operatives, petrol filling stations and even passenger bus collections as well.

There were attacks on police stations in the north in the 1970s. 34 police stations were attacked. Police officers including retired officers and police informants were brutally killed. LTTE   attacked police stations in the late 1970s said former army commander Cyril Ranatunga. A majority of the attacks on police stations were master-minded by the LTTE, observed Gamini Samaranayake. PLOT, TELO, EPRLF, EROS and other groups, also launched attacks on police stations. Large guerrilla units numbering between 50 to 250 participated in these attacks.

Police informers were also killed. The guerrillas branded informants as traitors to the Tamil cause for an independent state. These killings came to be known as `lamp post’ killings because most of the victims were tied to lamp posts before they were executed. A note was pinned to each of the bodies identifying them as collaborators.

These attacks continued into the 1980s. The PLOTE” group of Uma Maheswaran attacked Nikaweratiya police station. Date of attack not available, probably 1980s.

TELO stormed Chavakachcheri police station and razed it to the ground, in 1984. They killed the three police they found there. Police Sergeant Balasingham Krishnapillai had taken other 20 Sinhala police officers   to safety in an adjoining estate. they  hid there while the TELO combed the entire area searching for Sinhala police officers.  TELO had  later scolded  them  for failing to find and kill the Sinhala police. LTTE  would have immediately killed Krishnapillai as well.

By the end of the seventies the LTTE had become a well-knit terrorist outfit with a high degree of maturity. Splinter groups had been eliminated. Prabhakaran had become the supreme commander.

LTTE did not confine its activities to police alone. In 1978, the LTTE   had a meticulous plan to explode Air Ceylon Avro aircraft in Galle Face Green on Sept. 7, when a new constitution was to be presented. The flight got delayed, the plan misfired and the explosion occurred before the Avro took off from Ratmalana. Had it exploded as planned it would have hit the world headlines, observed Edward. Two men who had traveled in the Avro flight from Jaffna to Colombo were found guilty of placing a bomb under a seat before leaving the aircraft. They were found to be LTTE.

LTTE also went at the Sri Lankan Army, Navy and Air Force. The dates of these confrontations were often marked as `confidential’ information and only certain   incidents were made public, said Samaranayake.

At the initial stages, the attacks on the armed forces were aimed at army convoys , using landmines, ambushes and booby traps.  Majority of the army casualties of this time were attributed to landmine attacks. Edgar O’Ballance has recorded 14 landmine attacks from 1983 to 1986.

The army and navy camps in the Northern and Eastern provinces were  vulnerable targets. By early 1984,  militants had increased their operations against military bases. Three  of these attacks are significant  said Samaranayake. .The attacks which took place between January and February 1985 were launched against the Karainagar Naval Centre, the Kokkilai Army Camp and the Kilinochchi Police/Army Camp. The naval centre was attacked by the EPRLF.  TELO was responsible for the attack on the Kokkavil army camp in May 1985. In 1987 the ‘guerrillas’, in another combined operation, attacked the army camp in Kankesanturai, killing 18 soldiers. These land-based attacks were followed by confrontations at sea between the Sri Lankan Navy and the guerrillas.

The purpose of these persistent attacks on military bases was to compel the government to withdraw the armed forces from the Northern and Eastern provinces. The Tamil militants also hoped to provoke the armed forces into making indiscriminate assaults on the civilian population so that there would be a mass uprising against the government in those provinces, said Samaranayake. (Continued)