The Hon. Chathura Galappaththi
The MP argued that the Budget proposal to pay plantation workers an additional Rs. 10,000 per month conditional on 25 days’ attendance is impractical due to weekly holidays, monthly holidays, work quotas, weigh-cut systems, and shorter months. He said his side supports increasing plantation workers’ pay, including raising the daily wage to Rs. 1,750, but called for removal of the rigid 25-day condition and stated they cannot support the overall Budget.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 I will conclude quickly.
¶ 02 Even the President said that plantation workers would receive Rs. 10,000 extra per month if they report for 25 days. One MP said that makes the President saintly. But if you impose a “25 days” condition, it becomes impractical and unworkable. There is no issue with giving more — even one rupee more — to workers; we support that. But 25 days cannot be consistently met in practice: Sundays are off; daily quotas, block payments, and weigh‑cut systems mean many workers cannot reach “25 attended days” in months like November with multiple holidays, and February has only 28 days. Remove that rigid 25‑day condition. What the workers ask, simply, is to raise the daily wage to Rs. 1,750. We raise both our hands in support of that. We support that proposal but cannot support the overall Budget.
¶ 03 Thank you.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Friday, 14 November 2025 ·No. 22848 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Chathura Galappaththi. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 14 November 2025. No. 22848. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/20726