The Hon. Jagath Vithana

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson, I speak as a practical politician, not one who emerges after the rain to present statistics. From the day of the disaster I was out in the field. Though my own district Kalutara was spared major impact, I went to Kaduwela with boats and provided needed help. I went to Thambuttegama not because it is the President’s village, but because Hon. Suranga Ratnayake seated opposite was in distress. I saw the situation with my own eyes and took around 400 personal supporters with supplies.

¶ 02 I must express regret about some state officials in those villages. I went three days later; no state officials had reached Polgaswewa, Rajanganaya including Yaya 2, and Malbeligala in the North Central Province. People were left with only sarongs on their backs. Worse still, the core issue we must fix is land use. We must first identify and gazette residential, agricultural, and commercial lands, from local authority to provincial council to Parliament. Today, any plot can become “residential” through a local approval. That must stop. The result is what we suffer now. In Thambuttegama, villages saw water rise up to the tank bund level at Kala Oya; a great wall of water took lives and livelihoods. Paddy lands are covered in silt and boulders; farmers cannot rehabilitate them. Government and we alone cannot endlessly feed and maintain them. Establish organized townships and give larger, safer lands; the State owns vast tracts unused. Resettle and enable people to develop their agricultural livelihoods, or we will not escape these cycles. Floods will come again. This is not about ousting a government; it is about what successive governments failed to do. You have two‑thirds power—why not act? In a residential zone permit residences only; in agricultural zones, agriculture; in commercial zones, industry. Implementing this will solve much of the problem.

¶ 03 We receive US$ 1.5 billion from the IMF in two tranches; this cyclone’s damage is around US$ 6 billion, perhaps more. Proper assessments are pending: deaths, damaged houses, and lives buried in mud are not yet fully accounted. Therefore we must adopt this approach, not just appear with numbers after rain.

¶ 04 We have a duty beyond district or electorate; all 225 Members serve Sri Lanka. We have allowances we can reallocate. LKR 300 million set aside to celebrate some December day—use it for the affected. We do not need another “day.” Also stop importing fleets of cabs—there’s talk of 1,900. How can we develop with this debt, this disaster, this cost?

¶ 05 On the day of the Agriculture Ministry Head discussion, I could not attend, but I say this responsibly: as Coordination Committee Chairman in Matugama–Dodangoda, I strictly enforced a 2017 circular banning oil palm cultivation and was punished—six months’ rigorous imprisonment suspended for ten years—because I enforced it. Today I tell the whole country: reinstate oil palm with regulation. No other country bans it; only Sri Lanka. It does not harm the wet zone when managed properly, and palm oil is what we import and consume now. Expand it like tea, procure seeds, and boost the economy.

¶ 06 We pinned hopes on tea; 3,000 hectares are lost, fertilizer VAT raised prices, farmers reduced application, yields fell. We are an agriculture‑reliant country—do not let this continue.

¶ 07 We all must make sacrifices for the affected; I am ready. Consider my proposals as the Government and relocate those in high‑risk areas with adequate support. I speak not politics; we were out in torrential rain with the people. Thank you.