The Hon. (Prof.) Chrishantha Abeysena - Minister of Science and Technology
The Minister rejected allegations of misuse of official vehicles, stating that government vehicles are for official duties and that past administrations misused State vehicles and fuel. He noted that some officials receive both vehicle permits and official vehicles, and referred to the medical sector’s DAT allowance, now Rs. 35,000, as an example of attention to public servants’ concerns. He said the Government’s priority is to strengthen the economy before expanding benefits, rather than distributing cash indiscriminately.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 That is not your concern. Do not mislead. In your era, families used multiple State vehicles and misused fuel. We live simply and do not steal. These vehicles are for duty, not private use.
¶ 02 We know some cadres receive vehicle permits while also having official vehicles; that was a practice. In the medical sector, the DAT (Disturbance, Availability and Transport) allowance—introduced in 2015—is now Rs. 35,000. We are sensitive to public servants’ issues.
¶ 03 As I said, we must first build the economy; distributing cash indiscriminately is not our policy. We are attentive to all public servants and will proceed systematically: economy first, then benefits to the grassroots.
¶ 04 Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 11 November 2025 ·No. 22786 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Prof.) Chrishantha Abeysena - Minister of Science and Technology. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 11 November 2025. No. 22786. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/11938