The Hon. Suranga Rathnayaka

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, we express our deep sorrow to all our people and families across the country who were affected by the “BOO” cyclone and lost their property. During the “Ditva” cyclone, District Secretaries and Divisional Secretaries fulfilled special duties, and Grama Niladharis too carried out a great responsibility from the very outset, protecting the people. As an Opposition MP, I must thank those officers. During this period, we in the Opposition also did significant work among the people.

¶ 02 For example, my colleague Hon. Jagath Withana brought about 400 people from Kalutara to Nambuttegama; they cleaned houses and wells to make them livable. Yet our Government Minister asked where Nambuttegama was affected. I must remind him—it was Ambalangala and Siyambalagashchawa areas in the Thambuttegama region. He didn’t even know which areas were hit. As Opposition MPs, using our own funds, we did every good deed we could for our people.

¶ 03 Today Minister Lal Kantha said we should learn from them how the Opposition ought to act in times of disaster. If we are to learn from you, then recall when the economic crisis hit: some urged that no dollars be sent and sought to prolong the crisis, even threatening to set fire to Parliament. That was not the role of a responsible Opposition, particularly of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. Some claimed we distributed aid based on party colours. We did not. We went to the affected areas, met Grama Niladharis, took lists, and asked people to come to shelters—without any party bias. We fulfilled our Opposition duties properly. I also invite you to recall your own Opposition’s behavior during disasters over the past 30 years.

¶ 04 Hon. Presiding Member, the Department of Meteorology convened a meeting to review weather information; on the 18th the Water Panel met; on the 20th, the Department of Meteorology and DMC met again; and again on the 24th. However, after the 24th discussion, based on the assumption that rainfall would occur, the Secretary to the Water Panel provided a forecast to all reservoir engineers on expected rises in reservoir levels and posted it to the WhatsApp group that includes the Ministers of Irrigation and Agriculture. Regrettably, they showed no sensitivity to it. Had they acted on those alerts, 75% of the destruction from overtopping reservoirs in the Mahaweli region could have been prevented. We now call for a formal investigation—both at the ministerial level and via a special Parliamentary committee—into what happened on the 24th and thereafter.