{"id":148359,"date":"2025-03-06T16:56:42","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T23:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=148359"},"modified":"2025-03-06T16:56:42","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T23:56:42","slug":"public-disillusionment-grows-over-npp-government-says-chandima-weerakkody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/03\/06\/public-disillusionment-grows-over-npp-government-says-chandima-weerakkody\/","title":{"rendered":"Public disillusionment grows over NPP government, says Chandima Weerakkody"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/island.lk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Chandima-Weerakody.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Chandima Weerakkody<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former MP Chandima Weerakkody, speaking at a press briefing at the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) headquarters on Wednesday, claimed that public expectations of President Anura Dissanayake and the National People\u2019s Power (NPP) government have now faded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He stated that many who had placed their hopes in President Dissanayake and the NPP for change were now feeling disillusioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What has happened to many groups today is similar to moths drawn to light. All the country\u2019s teachers united to elect Anura Dissanayake as President. Advanced Level teachers urged students to vote for him, believing he would bring about change. Teachers even visited students\u2019 homes to convince parents to support the NPP,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the election campaign, the NPP had promised executive-level salaries for teachers. While salary revisions have been made, the increment is negligible, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doctors played a key role in enabling the NPP\u2019s victory. However, allowances previously granted for extra services and leave have now been cut, leaving doctors frustrated. Nurses, who campaigned for Anura Dissanayake in uniform, are now facing cuts to their additional allowances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, graduates without employment were assured that immediate steps would be taken to provide them with jobs. However, when unemployed graduates took to the streets demanding employment, the government deployed the police to suppress them. These very graduates who played a crucial role in electing Anura Dissanayake are now being treated inhumanely. Their hopes have been shattered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weerakkody further criticised the government for focusing on issues that do not address pressing national concerns. He stated that instead of conducting a census to assess the number of people living in poverty or carrying out the necessary survey to address unemployment, the government is prioritising the counting of monkeys and langurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This raises serious concerns about the direction in which the country is heading.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy The Island Chandima Weerakkody Former MP Chandima Weerakkody, speaking at a press briefing at the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) headquarters on Wednesday, claimed that public expectations of President Anura Dissanayake and the National People\u2019s Power (NPP) government have now faded. He stated that many who had placed their hopes in President Dissanayake and the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}